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GUIDE 



ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD 

LANDS. 



800,000 ACRES 



Best faeming Lands, 



FOR SALE BY THE 



ILLINOIS CENTEAL EAILEOAD COMPANY, 



In Tracts to suit Purchasers, and at Low Prices. 



CHICAGO : 

LAND DEPARTMENT, ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD CO^irANY, 

OPPOSITE THE GREAT CENTRAL DEPOT. 

1868. 



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PLATENM 



G-UIDE 



ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD 



LANDS. 



800,000 ACRES 



Best farmii^g- Lands, 



FOE SALE BY THE 



ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY, 



IN TRACTS TO SUIT rUKCHASEES, AND AT LOW PRICES. 



CHICAGO : 

LAND DEPARTMENT, ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY^ 

OPPOSITE THE GREAT CENTRAL DEPOT. 

1868. 



CONTENTS. 



1%? 



Page. 

General Remarks 3 

Climate 3 

Soil, Surface, &c 4 

Education •> 

Principal Productions (j 

The Railroad Lands 11 

Inducements to Settlers 13 

Prices, and Terms of Payment M 

List of Stations 1 o 

Description of Land from Cairo to Villa Ridge 16, 17 

" " Ullin to Joncsboro' 18, 19 

" " Cobdcn to Carhondale 19, 20 

" " De Soto to St. Johns 20, 21 

" " Tamaroa to Coloma 21, 22 

" " Ashley to Centralia 22, 24 

" " Odin to Patoka 24, 26 

" " Farina to Vera 26, 28 

" " Ramsey to Oconee . 29 

" " Pana to Assumption 29, 30 

" " Moawequa to Decatur 30, 32 

" " Forsyth to Maroa 32 

" " Clinton to Randolph 33, 34 

" " Bloomington to Hudson 34, 35 

" " Kai)i)a to Minuuk 36 

" " Rutland to Lostant 37 

" " Tonica to La Salle 38 

" " Mendota to Amboy 39, 40 

" " Eldena to Polo 40, 41 

" " Haldane to Baileyville 42 

" " Frceport to Warren 43, 44 

" " Apple River to Dunlcith 44, 46 

" " Chicago and Hyde Park 46, 47 

" " Calumet to Richton 47, 48 

" " Monee to Manteno 48, 49 

" " Kankakee to Chebanse 49, 50 

" " Clifton to Onarga 51,52 

" " Bulkier to Paxton 53, 54 

" " Pera to Thoniasboro' 54, 55 

" " Champaign to Pesotum 56, 57 

" " Tuscola to Okaw 57, 58 

" " Milton to iEtna 58, 59 

" " Neoga to Effin^liam GO, 61 

2 



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I 




The rapid gi'owth of Illinois, in population and in wealth, is the marvel of 
modern civilization. In 1830, this State contained only 157,455 inliabitauts. In 
1860, it had increased to 1,711,753; and at the present time the population is set 
down at 2,500,000. The real and personal property of its citizens, in 1850 valued 
at $150,000,000, is now estimated at $1,200,000,000. It contains more good 
farming-land than any other State. Its area is 56,000 square miles, or 35,840,000 
acres, ninety per cent of which, it is estimated, Ls suited for the plow, and with 
scarcely a tract of any considerable extent that is unfit for cultivation. The pro- 
ductive resources of the State may safely be said to be twice as great as the same 
body of lands anywhere east of the Alleghany range. 

The whole circuit of Illinois is 1,176 miles; and the Mississippi, Ohio, and Wa- 
bash Rivers form more than three-fourths its entire boundary. The numerous trib- 
utaries of these rivers penetrate every part of the interior, irrigating the soil, 
draining the low lands, and furnishing water-power for manufactories. The Illhiois 
River runs for over two hundred miles through the State, affording, in connection 
with the Illinois and JMichigan Canal, a water-way between the Mississippi and the 
lakes. Since 1850, thirty-two hundred miles ©f railroad have been constructed, at 
a total cost of $150,000,000. And thus, by railroads and rivers, there are easy 
means of communication and transportation both to the Gulf and the Atlantic sea- 
board. All the conditions favorable to prosperity are found here ; and nowhere 
can the farmer, the mechanic, the manufacturer, and the laboring-man find surer 
rewards of industry. 

CLI3IATE. 

Illinois lias between parallels of latitude 37° and 42° 30'. The climate is salux, 
brious, and the mortality is less than in almost any other part of the country. The 
immigrant seeking a location regards the healthfulness of the district as a matter 

3 



of primaiy consideration ; and it is not without gratification that we arrive at the 
conclusion that Illinois, so far as its sanitary condition is coneerned, ranks with the 
most favored States of the Union. The vital statistics collected in IHCJO show that 
in this State the deaths percent to the population were in that year only 1.14, 
while the average of the whole country was 1.27. The ratio of deaths to the liv- 
ing population in Massachusetts was 1.76; Tennessee, 1.39; Ai'kansas, 2.0G ; Ken- 
tucky, 1.45; Mi.ssLssippi, 1.57; Missouri, 1.52; Connecticut, 1.35; Kansas, 1.37; 
Louisiana, 1.7G ; Maine, 1.23 ; New York, 1.22. For the purpose of this compari- 
son we have selected States in every section of the Union. TTie figures are acces- 
sible to all who will take the trouble to examine the official reports, and are a suffi- 
cient reply to much misrepresentation. Extending 380 miles from north to south, 
Illinois has all the varieties of climate to be found between Boston, in Massachu- 
setts, and Norfolk, in Virginia, — in the southern part the mild temperature of Vir- 
ginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and in the northern section a climate more nearly 
resembling that of Tennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. 



SOIL, SURFACE, d;c. 

The soil in the different parts of the State presents very marked characteristics. 
From the latitude of Chicago as far south as the Terre Haute and Alton Railroad, 
tlie country for the most part is open prairie, with here and there groves of timber, 
and timbered on the banks of the various streams. Tlae soil in this region consists 
of a rich black loam, and is remarkably adapted to the production of corn, sor- 
ghum, and tame grasses. For stock-raising, no better land can be found. South 
of this line, the soil is lighter and of a grayish tinge : the country is also more 
broken, and the timber more plentiful. The small prairies in this region produce 
the best of winter-wheat, tobacco, flax, and hemp. From De Soto to Cairo, in the 
south, the land is heavily timbered. In this district, fruit, tobacco, cotton, and the 
different productions of the border States, are largely cultivated, and are highly 
remunerative. 

Mr. James Caird, IM.P., who is regarded as the highest agricultural authority 
in EnglaTid, passed over the Illinois Central lands a few years ago, and beare testi- 
mony to the inexhaustible fertlhty of the soil. He procm-ed samples of the soil 
from different localities, and submitted them to chemical analysis. In his work on 
"Prairie Farming in America," Mr. Caird says, "Its chemical composition has 
been ascertained for me by Prof Vo'elcker, consulting chemist to the Royal Agri- 
cultural Society of England, to whom I sent four samples of prairie soil for analysis, 
brought by me from ditferent and distant points of the lands belonging to the Illi- 
nois Central Railway Company. They bear out completely the high character for 
fertility which practice and experience had already proved these soils to possess. 
The most noticeable feature in the analysis, as it appears to me, is the very large 
quantity of nitrogen which each of these soils contains, — nearly twice as much as 
the most fertile soils of Britain. In each case, taking the soil at an average depth 
of ten inches, an acre of these prairies will contain upwards of three tons of nitro- 
gen ; and, as a heavy crop of wheat with its straw contains about fifty-two pounds 
of nitrogen, there is thus a natm-al store of ammonia in this soil sufficient for more 



than a hundred wheat-crops. In Dr. Voelcker's words, ' It is the large amount 
of nitrogen, and the beautiful state of division, that impart a peculiar character 
to these soils, and distinguish them so favorably. They are soils upon which flax, I 
imagine, could be grown in perfection, supposing the climate to be otherwise favor- 
able. / have never before analyzed soils icliich contained so much nitrogen ; nor do I 
Jind any record of noils richer in nitrogen titan these.' " 

The surface of the countiy shows a difference of elevation sufficient for all the 
purposes of drainage. The water-sheds are, first, the " Grand Chain," near Jones- 
borough ; second, Central Illinois ; and third, from Monee, north-westerly to Scales 
Mound. Chicago is 582 feet above tide-Water. The Ohio River, at low water, is 
300 feet below this; namely, 282 feet above tide-water. A large part of Central 
Illinois is higher than Chicago. Champaign is 739 feet above tide-water ; Monee, 
thirty-four miles south of Chicago, and twenty miles south of the lake, is 794 feet 
above tide-water; Effingham, 587 feet, being nearly on the same level with Chi- 
cago; Centralia, 492 feet; railroad track at Big Muddy River, 379 feet, being 47 
feet above the stream; Jonesborough, 629 feet. The raih-oad passes through the 
"Grand Chain," along the depression made by the "Drury;" and the hills on 
either side traverse several hundred feet above the road-bed. 

Pana is 674 feet above tide- water; Decatm*, 564 feet; Clinton, 625 feet; Bloom- 
ington, 721 feet; road-bed at the Illinois River, at LaSalle, 508 feet, being 74 feet 
below Chicago; Mendota, 747 feet; summit between Illinois and Rock River, 918 
feet ; Wisconsin State line, 982 feet; Scales Mound, 940 feet. 

ED U C ATION. 

In the important matter of the education of youth, Illinois has taken a leading 
position. The General Government endowed the State with one thirty-sixth part 
of the public land within its borders for the support of learning ; and this has pro- 
duced a large fund, the interest of which, with a tax of one-fifth of one per cent 
upon all the property in the State, is applied to the maintenance of free schools. 
At the date of the last published report, there were 9,945 public schools ; which had 
been maintained at an expense (for the year ending Sept. 30, 1866) of $4,359,238, 
and were attended by 614,659 pupils, being a fourth part of the whole number of 
the inhabitants of the State. The State Normal University, at Bloomington, is more 
than fulfilling the expectations of its founders and friends. «It was established in 
1857, for the education of teachers of the common schools, and at the present time 
has upwards of eight hundred students, every county in the State being represented. 
The Industrial College, recently located at Champaign, promises, under good man- 
agement, to be one of the most useful institutions of the State. Endowed for the 
benefit of the industrial classes, while the main object is the teaching of such 
branches as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, yet none of the classi- 
cal or scientific studies will be excluded, and thus a liberal as well as a practical 
education is insured to the students. A large number of colleges and academies, 
some of them set up by different religious denominations, but the majority being non- 
sectarian, have been established in Illinois, and every considerable town has one or 
more of these institutions of learninn;. 



ntlNCirAL ntODUCTIONS. 

Illinois stands pre-oniincntly first in the list of" grain-producing States. In no 
])art of tlie country docs agricultural machinery — the planter, the harvester, and 
the thresher — come into such general use as in this State ; and it is to these labor- 
saving appliances that the rapid development of the resources of the prairies is 
mainly due. The crop of last year — Indian corn, wheat, oats, rye, and barley — is 
estimated at 250 millions of bushels. 

Indian Corn. — This is ])erlia])s the most important crop of the State. It is 
ajiplied to so great a variety of pui'jwses, and is such an indispensable article for 
tbreign consumptit)n. that, however abimdantly it may be produced, the constantly 
increasing demand will press heavily upon the su])ply. It is less liable (^ foilure 
than any other cro]), and in some parts of the State has been produced without 
intermission, and without manure, tor more than half a century. 

Wheat. — For the culture of wheat, the lands of the Illinois Central Railroad 
are in all respects equal to any m the State. One great advantage is theirnearness 
to the railroad, by which the purchaser has the means of putting his crop in the 
market at the earliest or most favorable time, and at a cheap rate of transportation. 
During the last year, the stations on this road sent forward to market 3,958,280 
bushels of wheat, besides 3G3,926 barrels of flour. In Southern Illinois, wintei-- 
v/heat is almost certain to yield a good retui-n to the grower. The reaping, thresh- 
ing, and cleaning machines, now so generally in use, have made wheat-growing a 
scource of great profit to the farmer. 

For the conveyance of the surplus products of the West, the INIississippi River 
furnishes a cheap and easy means. Grain is now carried from Cairo to the New 
Orleans elevators in barges constructed specially for the purpose, and from 
New Orleans it is shipped to Liverpool, New York, and Boston, at rates of trans- 
portation cheaper even than via the lakes and canal, and with some saving in 
matter of time. 

Raising Stock. — Illinois is also the great cattle St:^e of the Union. Its fertile 
prairies are will adapted by nature to the raising of cattle, sheep, horses, and mules; 
aJid in the important interest of pork-j)acking it is far in advance of every other 
State. 

One feature which makes portions of Illinois so desirable for stock-raising is the 
pure water from Artesian wells, which is obtained at various depths, from 25 to 150 
teet. The Artesian water is impregnated with iron, which, although it is scarcely per- 
t'eptible to the jjalate, enters largely into the blood, and the person or animal using 
it becomes healthy and robust. The temperature is from forty-eight to filly-six 
<legrees at all seasons, and wells generally flow about a hundred gallons per hour. 
In dairy-business, and in the large cheese-factories now being estabUshed, these 
wells, by affonling a constant supply of water of an even tem])erature, aid materi- 
ally in the success of this jjranch of agriculture. 

Sheep thrive virell, requiring fodder but a short time in the year; and the beef 
and mutton of the prairies of Illinois are well known to be the best in America. 
The statistics of the live-stock trade show that considerably more than one-half 
the cattle taken to the New York market arc furnished by Illinois. The total 



receipts of beeves last year amounted to 293,832 head, of which this State con- 
tributed 177,028; and in the otlier large eastern cities the receipts of Illinois 
cattle are in about the same proportion. The bringing of stock from Texas and 
New Mexico to Illinois is already an important business, and is increasing with 
astonishing rapidity. The cattle are fattened upon our prairies, and then marketed 
in Cliicago and New York. In the southern part of the State, where the winters are 
uiilil, and pasturage abundant nearly all the year I'ound, stock-raising is one of .the 
most profitable branches of agricultural industry. 

Cotton, Tobacco, Flax. — The cultivation of tobacco and cotton in Southern 
Illinois was largely stimulated by the high prices which prevailed during the Rebel- 
lion. The production of cotton in the southern part of the State, last year, was 
1,300,000 pounds for shipment, a considerable portion of the crop being retained 
for home consumption. The tobacco crop of Southern Illinois brings a large sum 
to the farmers of that section. Flax is grown in almost every part of the State, 
and in many places for the seed alone ; but, with the improved machinery and 
modes of manufacture which repeated experiment and perseverance are producing, 
the fibre as well as the seed is being turned to profitable account, greatly increasing 
the value of this crop. Hemp can also be profitably produced. 

Beet Sugar. — The making of sugar from the beet has for several years occu- 
pied the attention of enterprising and public-spirited men. Experiments upon a 
large scale, made last year and the year before, have proved so successful as to 
warrant the belief that beet-sugar will presently become one of the leading pro- 
ductions of the State. The following extract from a letter from the Hon. Hoi-ace 
Capron, the United-States Commissioner of Agriculture, is worthy of esjjecial con- 
sideration. The letter is dated Washington, Feb. 8, 1868 : — 

" A promising beginning in beet-sugar making has been commenced in Chats- 
worth, HI., and fine samples of its sugar may be seen in the museum of this 
department. A history of tliis enterprise will hereafter be given. It has, of course, 
met with difficulties, surrounded by new circumstances, with high rates of labor 
and interest on money, which will all, I have no doubt, be eventually overcome. 
Many individuals and companies stand ready to engage in the business when its 
success upon our soil is fully demonstrated. Then, in the West, as in Europe, 
flourishing towns and villages will spring up upon prairies that are now without 
population or improvement ; and an impetus will be given to all other business by 
the successful manufacture of a raw product, taken from adjacent fields, involving 
the supply of an imperative want of every class of our people. 

" The beet-cake for feeding-purposes, the molasses, alcohol, and other products 
obtained, gi-eatly increase the aggregate wliich makes the total value of this branch 
of industry. Beet-sugar districts become so enriched, that far greater amounts of 
the cereals and other products of agriculture are obtained than before beet factories 
were known. 

"$133,943,159, gold value, have been paid for foreign sugar in five years (from 
1862 to 1866), and $30,115,073 for the molasses, — an average of about $33,000,000 
per year, and more than $50,000,000 in currency ; the most of which, if not all, should ' 
be retained at home. In view of the great success of the business in Europe, the 
American people owe to the world's estimate of American enterprise a determined 



and persistent cfTort for its ostablisliinent here. I see no reason to despair of its 
complete accomplislnnent. I shall therefore deem it a duty to encourage and for- 
ward this result so far as official means and opportunities may permit." 

Wool, — The production of wool is rapidly increasing in this State. Some 
statistics of the clip, in the districts adjoining the Illinois Central Railway, are 
furnished in the following l)ages, and they justify the inference that in a very few 
years the home product will be ample lor all the (U'lminds of manufacture. 

Mining. — The mineral wealth of Illinois is immense, and is constantly devel- 
oping to meet the exigencies of manufacture and the requirements of trade. Coal 
is found in almost unlimited quantities in various \)a.vts of the State, there being at 
this time no less than three hundred and eighty mines in operation. While many 
portions of the State are scantily supplied with timber, coal is purchased at moder- 
ate rates at nearly all the railway stations, and its demand for fiiel by the farmers 
is steadily inci'easing. It is found in many localities where as yet it is not exten- 
sively mined. Southern Illinois is exceedingly rich in mines of coal. All the lands 
north of the Big Muddy River, and south of Central ia, are underlaid by coal ; and 
the greater portion of them by the Duquoin coal-scam, which is one of the most 
valuable in the State, both on account of its thickness, and the excellent quality of 
the coal which it affords. Tliis coal may be reached by shafts varying in depth 
from fifty to three hundred feet, and the seam varies in thickness from four to six 
feet. 

The richest lead-producing district in the world — the Galena — hes mainly in 
this State. Though wrought for many years, it is believed that only a small part 
of the deposit has yet been removed. More than thirteen million pounds of lead 
were forwarded from the under-mentioned stations on the Illinois Central Railroad 
in 1867: — 

Dunleith 805,800 lbs. 

Galena 5,350,900 " 

Council Hill 2,420,900 " 

Scales Mound 864,000 " 

Apple River 721,900 " 

Warren 3,101,390 " 



Total 13,264,890 " 

Lime-stone, but little inferior to the best marble, is found in various localities, 
and is used in the construction of the fine buildings of Chicago and other large 
cities. Zinc-ore, to the amount of a thousand tons a year, is taken from the 
ground; while copper and iron are among the mineral treasures as yet barely 
touched. 

Lumber, Hedges, and Shade-Trees. — The forests of Southern Illinois 
abound in oak, cypre.«s, black-walnut, and pf)plar; and in many localities the liun- 
bering business is large and profitable. Many saw-mills are in operation near the 
railroad stations, furnishing building materials at very low rates. For several years 



Chicago has ranked as the cheapest, as well as one of the largest, lumber markets of 
the country. Although Illinois is destitute of pine, Chicago is situated -within easy 
water-communication with the great pine districts of Wisconsin and Lake Supe- 
rior; and the settler purchasing land in those districts where timl^er is scarce can 
buy his lumber for building and fencing at Chicago as cheap or cheaper than in 
any of the other great lumber markets of the country ; and at all of the prin- 
cipal stations on the railroad it can be purchased in smaller quantities at reasonable 
rates. 

Tlie Osage orange succeeds admirably for hedges, and is rapidly displacing the 
wooden fence, making a more enduring and secure enclosure. Besides its formi- 
dable defence in turning cattle, it presents a beautiful appearance in summer, and 
forms a good wind-break in winter. The seed is kept for sale at all the principal 
markets. 

Almost all the trees found in this State grow luxuriantly when set out in the open 
prairie country. Too much cannot be said in favor of the planting of trees, as 
well to add to the attractiveness of home as for the wants of the farm, for wind- 
breaks to protect crops and orchards, for hedges, &c. The first cost is small, while 
the requisite care is so little, and the benefit so great, that every farmer ought to 
give attention to the matter. 

Cheese. — A large number of cheese-factories were put in operation last year, 
and preparations are making to establish more. The best American cheese finds a 
ready market abroad, and forms no inconsiderable item of our exports. The prin- 
ciple of associated dairies is gaining favor all over the country, particularly in the 
West ; and, wherever cheese-factories have been set up, they have in all cases 
proved successfiil. 

Fruit. — Many varieties of fruit are produced throughout the State ; but it is 
to Southern Illinois that the term " fruit-country " Ls most appropriately applied. 
The State Geologist, in his last published report, thus refers to the section south of 
Centralia: "It is the most valuable for Fruit of any region ix the 
State. The climate is sufficiently mild to allow the peach-orchards of this vicinity 
to thrive luxuriantly ; and large crops of the same, as well as apples, pears, and all 
the smaller fruits, are annually obtained in great abundance. The broken lands are 
well adcipted to the growth of the fine varieties of grapes. Lying contiguous to the 
line of the Illinois Central Railroad, the lands in the counties of Jackson, Perry, 
Wasliington, and Jefferson, have every advantage of the Northern market for their 
products; and the inhabitant is able to send the annual products of the soil to mar- 
kets in Chicago and the North-west several weeks earlier than they can be fur- 
nished fi'om the northern part of the State, thereby secm-ing the best prices for 
their productions." 

The peaches of " Egypt " are esteemed equal to any in the United States, as 
well in flavor as in size, and are produced in the greatest abundance. In a favor- 
able season, the transportation of this fruit forms no insignificant item in the 
business of the road. Thus, during the last summer, the earnings of the railway 
were increased to the extent of upwards of $100,000 by the freight upon peaches ^^ 
carried from Southern Illinois to Chicago and other railway stations. 

In preparing a piece of ground for peach-gi-owing, there is no great expense 
2 



10 

beyond the purchase money of the land, wliiih costs fi-om $10 to 812 per acre. 
Tlie timber pays tor the expense ot'ckarinj; the land; and, until the trees begin to 
bear, sufficient crops can be raised I'roni the ground to pay rumiing expenses. 

Strawberries are cultivated in every part of Illinois ; but it is from the southern 
part of the State that the markets are chiefly supplied. In the fruit business of this 
region the strawberry ranks next tu the peach ; and it is estimated that there are 
more than fifteen hundred acres j)lauted with this berry in the towns bordering 
upon the railroad, south of Centralia. 

The cultivation of the grape has made so much progress, that very soon the fruit 
of this vine will be classed among the considerable exports of Southern Illinois. 
In some places, choice varieties will be found in almost every garden. 

Some prominence is given to the cidtivation of raspberries, and already about 
two hundred acres in the fruit region have been planted to this vine. The berry 
ie of a large size, and is of the finest flavor. 

In some sections, blackberries are found growing wild and in the greatest abun- 
dance. They are gathered, and sent to market, or preserved in various ways. 
This fruit is cultivated with good profit, the better qualities always bringing a 
large price. , 

Many thousands of pear-trees have been planted in the last few years. Some 
of them are just now coming into bearing, and give every promise of yielding as 
abundantly as the peach planted in the same vicinity. 

The apple has already become an important production of Illinois. In Cob- 
den, and other parts of the fruit region, some verj' large orchards have been set 
out. Great attention is now paid to budding and grafting and pruning ; the 
choicest varieties are selected for cultivation ; and the time is not far distant when 
the State will be an exporter, instead of an importer, of this fruit. 

The quince has not been extensively cultivated ; but, wherever met with, it 
seems to flourish well. 

When the presening of perishable fruits, by canning, has been more generally 
adopted, a still gi-eater impetus and value will be given to the fruit business of this 
State. 

Tomatoes, sweet-potatoes, etc., etc., are among the products of Southern Illinois ; 
and, while they grow in other sections of tlxe State, they flourish better in the 
South than in the North. TTie first vegetables of the season came from the south- 
ern part of the State, and the grower is thus favored that his early products 
necessarily command the highest prices in the great markets of Chicago, St. Louis, 
iind the Upper Mississijipi towns. 

In the season of shipment, the Railway Company runs a special train from 
Jonesboro' to Cliicago lor the accommodation of the fruit trade. During the last 
summer this train made seventy-three trips, — twenty-one in the beiTy season, and 
fiity-two in the peach season. The business of this train is summed up as follows ; 
Ijut the figures are far under the total ti-uit sliipments of the places named, large 
quantities having been sent to market liy express and by ordinary freight trains. 
As an instance, Ccntraliiv which fiirnislKd three hundred and twelve tons of fruit 
to the special train, sent forward six hundred tons by express. At the height of 
the season, for several days in succession, the train brought into Chicago nineteen 
car-loads of fruit per day. There were also large shipments along the Main Line, 



I 



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where the fruit dealers, not having access to the special train, wei-e confined to the 
accommodation afforded by the express. 

SJiipments hy the Fruit Train, 1867. 



TOTAL SHIPMENTS. 



Boxes of Boxes of Boxes of 
Peaches. other Fruit. Vegetables. 



Total 
Weight, lbs. 



Onarga . . 
Paxton . . 
Champaign 
Tolono . . 
Mason . . 
Edgewood 
Faruia . . 
Kinmiindy 
Alma . . . 
Tonti . . . 
Odin . . . 
Centralia . 
Irvington . 
Kichview . 
Ashley . . 
Dubois . . 
De Soto . . 
St. John's 
Du Quoin . 
Tamaroa . 
Carbondale 
Makanda . 
Cobden . . 
Jonesboro' 

Total . 



28(; 

5 
634 
10 
lU 
l(il 
1<J2 
1S5 
233 
796 
222 
1,816 
39 
111 



229 
1,357 
6,(i70 

S02 



3,134 

442 

3,147 

30,952 

20,9.« 

25,594 

5,776 

25,341 

2,622 

17,7c5 

340 

184 

140 

45,938 

229 

1,447 

10,971 

50 504 

126,412 

16,967 



27 
93 
94 
119 



12 
643 



421 
60 



727 

* 118 

537 

850 

2,623 

1,038 



511 
44 

'l7 

1,114 

21 



724 

575 

1,919 

1,024 



28,480 

200 

21,700 

500 

69,640 

13,920 

68,060 

625,320 

426,140 

536.020 

121,100 

625,580 

53,680 

392,250 

8,440 

3,680 

2,800 

938,050 

4,440 

31,160 

257,420 

1,089,580 

2,879.570 

429,610 



13,942 



388,820 



7,.363 



6,915 



8,6.38,200 



The principal part of these shipments were sent to Chicago, — less than one- 
fourth being destined for other stations. The aggregate of the shipments to 
Chicago were as follows: 289,191 boxes peaches, 12,521 boxes strawberries, 6,560 
boxes other descriptions of fruit, and 5,994 boxes of vegetables, — the total weight 
being 6,548,310 lbs. 

THE E XF OUTS OF PRODUCE. 

To whatever extent the resources of tliis State are developed, there can never be 
any very great accumulation of bread stuffs. It is impossible for Europe to yield 
enough wheat for its three hundred millions of people ; and their soundest writers 
upon the subject assert, that, even with the most favorable harvests, three-fourths 
of the population are inadequately fed. With cheap means of transportation to the 
shores of the Old AVorld, it is believed that five hundred million bushels of bread- 
stuffs would be annually purchased from the United States. But it is not alone to 
wheat and corn that the export trade is confined. In Illinois, almost every thing 
that contributes to food for man is produced in excess of the wants of the popula- 
tion, and finds a profitable market in the Eastern States and in Europe. 

THE RAILIiOAD L A X D S^ 

In 1850, the General Government ceded a portion of the public lands lying 
within the State of Illinois, and extending fifteen miles on each side of the track, 
to aid in the construction of a railroad from Cairo, in the extreme southern part of 
the State, to Dunleith, in the north-west, with a branch to Chicago, on the shore^ 
of Lake Michigan. The State transferred these lands to the Central Railroad 
Company on conditions which have been fully complied with. The Company 



12 



expended $30,000,000 in the construction of a railroad through the State, as above 
described, and in erecting station-houses, warehouses, and other permanent im- 
provements. The grant com|)rised 2,595,000 acres in alternate sections. This 
land had been tor many years ollcrcd to purchasers at $1.25 per acre, and, under 
the gi-aduation laws, would soon have come into the market at a rate even lower 
than this. Inmiediately upon the Company undertaking to build the railroad, the 
Government advanced the price of the laud it had reserved (the alternate sections) 
to $2.50 an acre ; and at this rate it met with a speedy sale. Thus the Govern- 
ment was an absolute gainer by the transaction, even in a money point of view. 
With the projection of the railroad, now life and energy were given to the region 
through Avhich it was to pass. The land Avas otl'ered to settlers at a low price and 
upon easy terms ; immigration was inuuediately attracted ; the country, hitherto a 
wilderness, was put under cultivation ; and there has followed an increase in popu- 
lation and material prosperity altogether unparalleled. The statistics of fi'eight 
forwarded upon the Illinois Central Railroad exhibit the following results for the 
year 18G7 : 7,820,5G0 busliels corn, 3,958,280 bushels wheat, 4,8G3,110 bushels oats, 
fi40,G50 bushels barley, 237,390 bushels rye, 303,026 bbls. flour, 1G5,958 bushels 
l)Otatoes, 41,882 bbls. pork, 10,089 bbls. lard, 10,104 tons hay, 1,236,000 lbs. wool, 
18,427,300 lbs. dressed pork, 150,000 tons coal, 5,598,200 lbs. hides, 61,846 beet- 
cattle, 43,750 sheep, 322,860 hogs, 6,554 horses and mules, 13,264,890 lbs. lead. 
These are a portion only of the important productions of the section of Illinois con- 
tributing to the railroad. Seven per cent of the gross earnings of the road are 
paid into the State Treasury — an amount nearly sufficient to defray the ordinary 
expenses of the State Government. The following table shows the population, in 
1850, 1860, and 1865, of the counties touched by the Illinois Central Raih-oad. As 
the increased per cent in these counties is considerably greater than the increase 
of the whole State, the conclusion is irresistible that the Illinois Central Railroad 
has been one of the leading forces operating in the settling up of the country. 

JPopulation of 40 Counties in Illinois, on the Line of the 
Illinois Central Railroad. 



Cook . . . 
Will .... 
liiinkakee . 
Irocjuois . . 
Ford ... 
Chumpaign 
DousIhs . . 
>Ioultri<' . . 
Coles . . . 
CurnbiTliind 
Eflingliani . 
Clay. . . . 
Marion . . 
.U'lIV-rson . 
Franklin . 
Williamson 
.lolwison . . 
Pulaski . . 
Alexander . 
Union ... 
•Tackson . . , 
I'crry ... 
Washington 
Clinton . . , 
Bond ... 
Fayette . . 



1850. 1860 



43,385 
10,703 



4,149 
2,049 



3,234 
9,335 
3,718 
3,799 
4,289 
0,720 
8,109 
5,081 
7,210 
4,114 
2,205 
2,484 
7,015 
5,802 
5,278 
0,953 
5,139 
0,144 
8,075 



144,054 
29,321 
15,412 
12,325 
1,979 
14,i;29 
7,140 
0,385 
14,203 
8,311 
7,H1() 
9,330 
12,739 
]2,9fi5 
9 393 
12,205 
9,342 
3.943 
4,707 
11,181 
9,.1S9 
9,552 
13,731 
10,941 
9,815 
11,189 



1865, 



217,309 
30,980 
18,090 
18,070 

3,(i43 
21,124 
11,0,52 

8,324 
22,951 
10,057 
12.011 
13,332 
18,900 
15,201 
11,470 
14,103 
11,407 

7,400 
12,206 
15,sso 

i4,(;7'.) 

11,477 
10,193 
13,795 
11,471 
15,907 



COUNTIES. 



Montgomery 
Piatt . . . . 
Snciby . . . . 
Christian . . 
Macon . . . 
DeWitt . . . 
McLean . . . 
Woodlorii . . 
Livinijston . 
Marshall . . 
Putnam . . . 
La .Salle . . . 
Bureau . . . 
D.! Kalb . . . 
Whitesides . 

Lee 

Carroll . . . 
Winnebago . 

Ogle 

Stephenson . 
,Io Davics.s . 
Sangamon . . 
Logan . . . . 



1850. 1860. 1865 



Totals 351,887 



13,979 
6,127 
14,613 
10,492 
13,738 
1(1,S20 
28,772 
13,282 
11,037 
13.437 
5,587 
48,332 
20.420 
19,(H() 
18737 
17,051 
11,733 
24,491 
22,8S8 
25,112 
27,325 
32,274 
14,272 

843,914 



19,812 
8,138 
19,278 
17,2;j9 
21,091 
12,815 
39,772 
18.022 
17,500 
10,052 
0,311 
50,045 
31.51)8 
21.2'.>4 
24,125 
22.<i.30 
14,520 
25,541 
25,254 
29,231 
2.i,437 
48,273 
18.501 

1,127,087 



13 



THE TITLE. 

It is an iroportant consideration with the purchaser of land, that he secure a good 
title ; and, so far as this requisite is concerned, the Illinois Central Railroad Com- 
pany can convey to the buyer of its lands a title complete and perfect in every 
respect. The lands were first ceded by the United States to the State of Illinois, 
and then by the State of Illinois to this Company. So that, when the purchaser 
has paid the price agreed upon, he receives a deed from the trustees appointed by 
the State, and in whom the title is now vested, which is- an absolute title in 
FEE SIMPLE, being iu fact the first conveyance under the authority of the General 
Government. 

INDUCEMENTS TO SETTLERS. 

The attention of persons whose limited means forbid the purchase of a home- 
stead in the older States is particularly invited to these lands. Witliin twelve 
years the Illinois Central Railroad Company has sold 1,800,000 acres of land to 
actual settlers. The 800,000 acres yet unsold are, in all respects, equal to those 
already disposed of. A considerable portion of these lands are contig-uous to the 
Chicago Branch of the Elinois Central Railroad, south from Chicago trom 60 to 
150 miles, in the centre of the corn-belt and most favored climate, where the range 
for grazing is extensive, and healthful water from Artesian wells is readily obtained 
at a small expense, and having direct railroad communication with the great markets 
of Chicago and Cairo. The farms are sold in tracts of forty or eighty acres, suited 
to the settler with limited capital, or in larger tracts, as may be required by the 
capitalist and stock-raiser. The soil is of unsurpassed fertility, the climate is 
healthy ; taxes are comparatively low ; churches and schools are abundant through- 
out the length and breadth of the State ; and communication with all the great 
markets is made easy by railroads, canals, and rivers. 

It should be remembered that these lands are offered at about the gold standard 
price which prevailed in 1861 ; while, in the mean time, the jirice of grain, and 
indeed of all agricultural products, has largely increased. 

The details furnished in the following jjages will enable any one intending to 
settle in Illinois to form a tolerably correct idea of the district which will best meet 
his views. 

Those coming from the Eastern States, or from any of the old settled districts, 
must bear in mind that this is, in many respects, a new country ; but any man 
with good health, industry, and a determination to succeed, — setting out with 
enough means to purchase a team, plows, the materials for a small house, and some 
fencing, — can hardly fail in a few years to secure a comlbrtable home, and to attain 
that independent position whicJi every husbandman desires. With the present 
prices (April, 1868) of all articles needed, $800 is perhaps the smallest amount 
we would advise any one to start upon lor the purchase of eighty acres, or even a 
smaller tract of land. Many persons succeed with smaller means to begin with. 
Some of the German, Norwegian, and Swedish emigrants who have purchased 
land of the Company, and who are a very thrifty, industrious, and frugal class, 
have ftirnished examples of prosperity from very small beginnings. Labor is in 
great demand at lair prices, and no one who is able to work need remain idle in 
any of the farming districts of the State. It is advisable for those removing from 



14 



the East to bring with thcui the less bulky articles of household goods. All kinds 
of agricultural implements, peculiarly adapted to the character of the soil, are ex- 
tensively manufactured in the State, and can be purchased at Chicago, and at all 
the important railway stations, at as low prices as in any part of the Union. A 
large luunhcr of the farmers from Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin have brought 
with them their cattle, sheep, horses, agricultural implements, &c. ; in many cases, 
the stock being driven across the country to the new location. 

At any of the stations on the railroad, information can be obtained as to the 
exact location of the Company's lands, and the business connected with the pur- 
chase can be transacted through the station agent ; but it is recommended to all 
whose route lies through Chicago to call at the principal ofllce of the Land Departs 
ment, opposite the Great Central Depot, where full particulars will be furnished 
regarding the different localities, and every assistance given to enable purchasers 
to select their land with the least expense and trouble. 

PRICES, AND TERMS OF PAY MENT. 

The lands of the Company are now offered at from $7 to $12 per acre, with some 
few tracts at higher figures, rated according to quality and nearness to stations. 
They are sold upon short credit, or for cash, — a deduction of ten per cent from 
the price per acre being made to those who purchase for cash. 

Example. — Forty acres, at $8 per acre, on short credit ; the principal, one- 
quarter cash down — balance, one, two, and three years, at six per cent interest, 
in advance, each year : 

Interest. Principal. Interest. Piincipal. 

Cash payment $14 40. . . . $«0 00 I Payment in two years . .$4 80. . . .$80 00 

Payment in one year .... 9 60 .... 80 00 1 Payment in three years SO 00 



I Total payments 348 80 

The same land may be purchased for $288 in cash. 

Any information not contained in this pamphlet will be furnished upon applica- 
tion in person, or by letter in English, French, or German, addressed to 
LAND COMIiUSSIONER, 

Illinois Central Railroad Co., 

Chicago, III. 



15 



List of Stations on Illinois Central Hailroad. 



s a 

8. 25 
8.40 
7.27 
5.47 
8.22 
5.1»0 

;{.5l 

4.0) 
4.0i 

4.50 
7.97 

.5'.26 
4.57 
5.25 
6.07 
S.Oli 
1.32 
6.14 
5.07 
7 34 
8.68 
7.75 
4.70 
3.25 
2.27 
6.82 
5.02 
6.14 
4.t>U 
5.03 
8.16 
3.12 
4.37 
4.71 
7.12 

i.sy 

5.52 
5.84 
0.50 
4.42 
8.22 
7.75 
5.29 
5.00 
4.94 
P. 87 
7.42 
9.12 
7.32 
10.03 
7.25 
5.25 
6.44 
8.14 
9.65 
3.59 



MAIN LINE. 

NAMES OF STATIONS. 



Dunleith . . 
Menominee . , 
Galena . . . . 
Council Hill 
Scales Mound . 
Apple River . 
Warren. . . . 

Nora 

West Point . . 
Lena .... 
Kleroy . . . . 
Freeport . . . 
Baileyville . . 
Foreston . . 
Haldane . . 
Polo .... 
Woo.sung . . . 
North Dixon 
Dixon . . . 
Eldena ... 
Amboy ... 
Sublette . . . 
Mendota . . 
Homer . . . 
Coal Track . . 
La Salle . . 
Oglesby ... 
Tonica ... 
Lostant . . 
Wenona . . 
Rutland . . 
Minonk ... 
Panola . . . 
El Paso ... 
Kappa ... 
Hudson. . . 
Normal ... 
Bloomington 
Randolph . . 
Hoyworth . 
Wapella . . 
Clinton . . . 
Maroa ... 
Forsyth. . . 
Decatur . . 
Wheatland . 
Macon ... 
Moawequa . . 
Assumption 
Pana . . . . , 
Oconee ... 
Ramsey . . . 
Vera .... 
Vandalia . . , 
Shobonier . 
Patoca . . . 
Sandoval . . , 
Junction . . 



Distance 

from 
Dunleith. 



102, 
103, 
109, 
115. 
122, 
131, 
138. 
143. 
146, 
149, 
150. 
101, 
167, 
172 
177, 
185, 
189 
193, 
19S, 
205, 
207, 
212, 
218. 
225. 
229, 
237, 
245, 
250, 
255. 
260, 
266. 
273. 
283. 
290. 
300. 
307. 
312. 
319. 
327. 
.337. 
.340. 



The entire length of the road is 705.73 miles : 
the Main Line, from Cairo to Dunleith, 455.51 
miles; and the Branch, from Chicago to the 
junction with the Main Line, 250.22 miles. 



Miles 

bet. 

Stat'ns 



7.00 

7.00 
9.50 
4.00 
1.00 
6.50 
6.00 
6..50 
9.50 
1.00 
7.45 
4.36 
4..36 
4.25 
3.77 
3.98 
3.00 
5.25 
6.00 
4.13 
5.56 
5.56 
5.15 
8.85 
4.00 
4.80 
4.77 
8.12 
7.90 
5.91 
8.75 
7.39 
4.45 
6.84 
7.57 
6.82 
5.83 
2.95 
4.00 
4,60 
6.85 
5.00 
5.10 
5.21 
5.76 
.82 
1.51 
6,28 
4.14 
3.45 
7.45 
5.95 
7.38 
1.36 

1.3'.41 
6.30 
8.34 
6.07 
5.48 
9.27 
2.92 
3.72 
4.59 
3.93 
3..34 
8.50 



CHICAGO BRANCH. 

NAMES OF STATIONS. 



Chicago . . 
Hyde Park . 
M. S. Crossing 
Calumet . . 
Thornton . . , 
Matteson . . 
Richton . . 
Monee . . . 
Peotone . . 
Manteno . . 
Kankakee . 
Sacramento . 
Chebanse . . 
Clifton . . . 
Aslikum . . 
Danforth . . 
Oilman ... 
Onarga . . . 
Spring Creek 
Bulkley. . . 
Loda .... 
Paxton ... 
Pera .... 
Rantoul . . 
Thomasboro' 
Champaign . 
Savoy. ... 
Tolono . . . 
Pesotum . . 
Tuscola. . . 
Okaw. ... 
Milton . . . , 
Mattoon . . 
Mina, . . . . 
Neoga ... 
Si.gel .... 
Effingham . 
Watson . . . , 
Mason ... 
Ed'i'ewood . . 
Laclede . . . , 



Kinmundy . . . 

Alma 

Tonti 

Odin 

M. L. Junction . 
Central City . . 
Centralia .... 
Irvington .... 
Richview .... 

Ashley 

Du Bois .... 
Tamaroa .... 
St. John's . . . 
Du Quoin .... 

Elkville 

De Soto 

Carbondale . . . 
Makanda .... 

Cobden 

Jonesboro' . . . 
Dongola .... 

Wetaug 

LfUin 

Pulaski 

Villa Ridge . . • 
Mound City June. 
Cairo 



Distance 

from 
Chicago. 



14 

23 
27 
28 
.34 
40 
46 

67 
<i4 
68 
73 

81 
85 

8: 

93 

98 
103 
108 
114 
119 
128 
1.32 
13; 
142 
150 
15S 
1(14 
17 
179 
184 
19] 
199 
205 
211 
214 
218 
223 
229 
234 
2: 19, 
244 
250 
252 
252 
268 
262 
260 
273 
279 
287, 
288, 



.301 
308 
316 
.323 



328 
338 
.340 
344 
349 
353 
356 
365 



GUIDE TO AND DESCRIPTION OF 



ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD LANDS. 



fSEi: OUTLIJSE MAP, PLATE 1.) 

Cairo, the soutborn terminus of tlic Illinois Central llailroail, at the jiinetion of the 
Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, is a point of the first coinmereial, geographical, and strategi- 
cal importance. It is 365 miles south from Chicago, 522 south-west from Cincinnati, 175 
south-east from St. Louis, and about 1,000, by the course of the river, north from New 
Orleans. From the period of the establishment of steam navigation on the Western 
rivers, this delta was marked as an eligible site for a city ; but the local disadvantages 
were too great for private enterprise to overcome, and the early history of Cairo is the 
history of many signal and lamentable failures. Its prosperity dates from the opening of 
the Illinois Central Railroad. The construction of levees to protect the city from inunda- 
tion, the building of warehouses, and indeed the creation of business — these undertakings 
of the Railroad Company ai'e the auspicious circumstances which combined to make Cairo 
a centre of traffic. The first train of cars reached Cairo on the 7th of August, 1855, and 
.since that time the progress of the city has been steady and onward. In 1850, it contained 
242 inhabitants. It was incorporated in 185G, and now has a population of more than 
12,000. In the last three years, thirteen miles of streets have been filled up to the estab- 
lished grade, and the work is still going on. Within the same time, three miles of brick 
sewers have been constructed. The levee around the city now encloses 1,.300 acres. The 
rise of the rivers, from extreme low to extreme high water, is forty-nine feet. Every 
steamer plying between St. Louis, Cincinnati, Louisville, or Pittsburg, and the southern 
towns on the Mississippi River, must necessarily stop at Cairo, and land and receive pas- 
sengers, freight, and sujiplics. During the last year, 4,8.38 steamboats touched here. 
Large and handsome buildings have been recently constructed by the General Govern- 
ment, and the County (Alexander) of which Cairo is the shire town. The U. S. Gov- 
ernment is now erecting a building of cut stone, to cost S200,000, for the use of the 
Custom Hou.se and the Post-Office. There are ten churches in the city ; to wit, two 
Roman Catholic and two African, and one each Episcopal, Baptist, German-Lutheran, 
Methodist, Christian, and Presbyterian. The public schools are justly the pride of the 
city and the admiration of strangers. Two of these schoolhouses are of brick, and of 
handsome architectural ap])earance, — the Primary schoolhouse, costing $1 7,000, and the 
High schoolhouse, $.30,000. The teachers are among the best to lie obtained in the State. 
At the last enumeration, there were 636 pupils in attendance. There are al.so three private 
schools, having an average attendance of 400 pu])ils, — ont>, a I)oarding and day school, 
for girls only, under the charge of the Sisters of Loretta, and more familiarly known as 
16 



17 

the Convent School, one German, and one Catholic school. The total number of busi- 
ness and trading houses is 256, which includes two banks and two insurance companies. 
In addition to the extensive depots of the Railroad Company, there are five large grain 
warehouses and one gi'ain elevator. The " press " consists of the daily and weekly " Demo- 
crat " and the weekly " Times." There are two dry docks, and a number of manufacturing 
concerns, among which are two floui'ing-mills, two saw-mills, three machine-shops, two 
founderies, two planing and sash mills, two breweries, two barrel-factories, two tobacco- 
factories, and cotton gins and presses, &c., &c. Twelve doctors and fifteen lawyers repre- 
sent the medical and legal professions. 

JUotind Station, 8^ miles north of Cairo, is connected with Mound City, a busy 
place of 2,000 inhabitants, by a railway three miles in length. There are freight and pas- 
senger houses here, erected by the Illinois Central Railroad Company, and some business 
is done in the lumber-forwarding way. 

Villa Ultlge. — This station has three hotels, six stores, three brickyards, two 
blacksmith-shops, three saw-mills in the vicinity, one church, one schoolhouse, one broom- 
factory, one shingle and furniture factory, one drug-store, &c. The name was suggested 
by the character of the surrounding country, which consists of a ridge, or a series of ridges, 
extending from a point four or five miles west of the railroad eastward to the Ohio River 
at Caledonia, and thence up the river indefinitely. The soil is fertile; and this station, 
being in the neighborhood of hills, has attracted to itself much attention as a desirable 
place for the extensive cultivation of fruit, and quite a number of persons, representing 
almost every State in the Union, are largely engaged in that pursuit. This valley, 
between the Ohio and Mississippi, is unsurpassed for horticultural purposes. Coal 
abounds ; and tobacco, cotton, and sorghum are very profitably and extensively culti- 
vated. The country is rapidly growing in population, and many improvements are in 
progress. The station is twelve miles from Cairo, and seven from Mound City ; and the 
picturesque ridge is the first high ground to be found north of those places. As a conse- 
quence, the hills in the vicinity of the station are regarded as very desirable country- resi- 
dences for gentlemen doing business in Cairo and Mound City. The forests abound in 
black walnut, oak, poplar, cypress, &c. ; and the station is an important shipping-point for 
lumber and produce of all kinds. 

Pulaski, situated 16 miles north of Cairo, has 300 inhabitants. In this place there 
are thi'ee stores, a blacksmith shop, two brickyards, and a schoolhouse, which is u«ed also 
as a house of worship. A large lumber business is carried on here ; and six saw-mills are 
kept running, cutting all kinds of plow and wagon stuff, besides common lumber for 
building, fencing, and other purposes. The hard timber which grows in this vicinity is 
highly prized (particularly the oak and hickory) ; and there is also an abundance of 
cypress, poplar, and cotton-wood. There are indications of coal in this neighborhood, but 
no mines have been opened. Both the soil and climate are well adapted to the raising of 
early fruits and vegetables. During the last year, 35,000 fruit-trees and 15 acres of straw- 
berries were planted, and in the same period ten new farms were opened. The lumber 
prepared at this station, and sent to market by railway, exceeded 2,118,000 feet of boards, 
and 804,000 shingles and laths. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate. — 

The land is heavily timbered with poplar, oak, cotton-wood, gum, elm, cypress, sycamore, 
and other trees. The soil is very deep and rich, and well adapted to cotton, tobacco, fruit, 
&c. The Company has about 19,000 acres for sale, at prices ranging from $7.00 to *12.00 
per acre. The lands are situated in Alexander and Pulaski Counties. 
3 



18 



(SEE Ol'TLrXE MAP, J'LATE 2.) 

ZJllin, 20 miles uortii of Cairo, has a population of 300, mainly enijajicd in the lum- 
bering business. There arc three ,saw-mills here, making about six million feet of po])lar, 
oak, and cypress luml)er annually ; besides which, large quantities of cypress shingles are 
rived and shaved by hand. In UUin are three general stores, two hotels, one boot and 
shoe shop, and a school attended by about 40 scholars. In 18G7 this station sent forward 
by the railroad about 4,000,000 feet of lumber, 3,500,000 shingles, and 3,500 bbls. lime. 
White lime is manufactured here to the extent of 250 barrels per day, and good stone can 
be obtained for building purpo.ses. Upwards of 2,000 fruit trees were planted in this 
vicinity last year. 

WctnUiJ, 24 miles north of Cairo, has 250 inhabitants. A large lumber trade i.s 
carried on in Wetaug. Here are two churches (Lutheran and German Reformed), two 
schools, two stores, one hotel, three saw-mills, one blacksmith-shop, one cooper-shop, 
two carpenter-shops, and one wagon-shop. During the last year, eight new farms were 
opened near this place, and 10,000 fruit-trees planted. Winter-wheat is an abundant 
and a certain crop, and is extensively cultivated in this neighborhood. The lumber ship- 
ments last year were nearly 2,000,000 feet. Some cotton is raised in and about Wetaug. 

Doiigola is situated 27 miles north of Cairo, and contains 1,000 inhabitants. Three 
years ago the population did not exceed 300. Dongola is in the heart of the fruit region, 
and the cheapness of the land attracts numbers who purpose engaging in fruit culture in 
Southern Illinois. The land is also esteemed excellent for tobacco, cotton, and wheat. 
It is high and rolling and heavily timbered. Twelve new farms were put under cultiva- 
tion last year : and in the same time fifty acres were planted to strawberries, and six thou- 
sand peach and pear trees set out. The business of the place keeps up seven dry-goods 
stores, one hardware-store, two drug-stores, milliner^'-store, hotel, saddle and harness shop, 
livery stable, photogr.aphic gallery, two blacksmith and wagon shops, three shoe-shops, 
and six cooper-shops. An establishment is in operation manufacturing bedsteads and 
wagon materials of all kinds and of the best quality. Three flouring-mills arc kept run- 
ning ; and another, now building, will i)e completed in a few months. There is a well-con- 
structed schoolhousc here, the average attendance at the schools numbering 140. Of 
church edifices there are two, accommodating several sects ; to wit. Baptist, Methodist, 
Lutheran, Christian, and Presbyterian. Of the produce of this place, there were sent to 
market^ by the railroad last year, 170,700 pounds cotton, 90,300 pounds tobacco, and 
3,274 barrels flour, besides large quantities of lumber, dressed pork, and hides. 

t7^0Jies?>oro ', county seat of Union County, 329 miles from Chicago, and 36 from 
Cairo, contains a population of about 2,500. Here are two Methodist, one Presbyterian, 
one lloman Catholic, and two Baptist churches ; two public schoolhon.ses, and several 
private schools, with an attendance altogether of 573 children. Twelve handsome resi- 
dences were built the past year, and the town is pi'ospcring finely. The suiTounding 
country is peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of fruit; 50,000 trees were planted during 
the last year. The peach attains a high degree of perfection. The culture of cotton is 
also assuming some importance. In the town there are four flonring-mills; fifteen dry- 
goods stores; seven retail groceries; nine blacksmith-shops; three hotels; a jirinting- 
office, issuing " The Jonesboro' Gazette ; " three drug-stores ; five boot and shoe shops ; two 
saddlery-shops ; two jeweller-shops ; tour millinery-shops ; one steam barrel-factory, turn- 
ing out 400 barrels a day; two lime-kilns, making 350 barrels of lime per day; one 
drain-tile fiictory, which makes a superior article of tiles ; a pottery, the largest in Southern 
Illinois ; two tan-yards ; two marblo-yards ; one agricultural-implement warehouse ; two 
tobacco-factories ; one saw-mill ; five cooper-shops ; two liver}'-stablcs ; two lodges of 



19 

Freemasons, two of Odd Fellows, and one of Good Templars, — united membership, 550. 
Daily lines of mail-stages run to Cape Girardeau, Lick Creek, and Preston. The jirineipal 
shipments last year were flour, 4,532 barrels; cotton, 79,500 pounds; tobacco, 3-2,900 
pounds ; dressed pork, 37,600 pounds; apples, 1,360 barrels; and some two hundred tou.s 
of peaches, strawberries, and early vegetables. 

General Description of the District etnbraced in the Plate. — 

High, rolling timber-land, interspersed with cleared and improved farms, and well watered 
by many small streams. The timber is not excelled in quantity or quality in any part of 
the State, and consists of beech, cotton-wood, oak, ash, walnut, &c., &c. The Company 
offers for sale about 47,000 acres of these unimproved timber-lands, at from $7.00 to 5i!12.CO 
per acre; the larger portion, over three miles from the road, at $7.00 to $8.00. No part 
of Southern Illinois is improving more rapidly than this ; a large number of the settlers 
are from the more southern and border States. The wheat raised in this district ripens 
early, and is of superior quality. Tobacco is extensively cultivated, and much attention 
is now devoted to this crop, which is one of the most I'cmunerative of any grown in 
the State. The attention of those who desire to enter into this branch of farming is 
particularly directed to this section of country. Cotton is grown to considerable extent ; 
and fruits of all kinds are raised in large quantities, the soil and climate being peculiarly 
adapted to their culture. There are a number of saw-m.ills in the vicinity of the railroad. 
This plate embraces lands in Union, Johnson, Alexander, 'and Pulaski Counties. 



(SEE OUTLIJ^E MAP, PLATE 3.) 

Cobden (P. 0. South Pass), 323 miles south from Chicago, and 42 north from Cairo. 
A flourishing town has grown up around this station within the past five years. This has 
been caused by the development of the fruit-growing facilities of the neighborhood, 'ilie 
high lands which prevail here are particularly adapted to the growth of peaches, apples, 
pears, grapes, and small fruits; and the climate is so mild that many who were invalids 
in colder localities have regained their health here. In 1865 the carefully-prepared statis- 
tics of the " Fruit-Growers Association of Southern Illinois " showed 147 acres of straw- 
berries in bearing, and 230,825 fruit-trees planted : it is safe to say that there arc now 
300 acres of strawberries, and 400,000 trees (apples, pears, and peaches). Within the 
last year there have been built fifty dwelling-houses, one flouring-mill, three blacksniith- 
shops, five stores, two wagon-shops, one brick schoolhouse (cost $12,000), one fruit-pack- 
age factory with steam saw-mill attached, and one church (Carapbellite). The Baptists 
have a church, and the Methodists are now building one. The South Pass Ilorticuhiiral 
Society own a hall (28 x 55 feet) where they hold monthly meetings, and where there are 
religious services each Sabbath, and a flourishing Sunday school. The sweet-potato housr; 
stores 10,000 bushels. Sweet-potatoes and tomatoes are extensively cultivated. 4,12.'),000 
pounds of peaches, apples, pears, tomatoes, and sweet-potatoes, and 450,000 pound,-, of 
strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and grapes were shipped from this station in 1867. 
Population, 950. The Railroad Company will build a new passenger house at this station 
during the present year. Some cotton is produced here, the amount of last year's ship- 
ments being 11,700 pounds. 

Mahanda is situated between two romantic, rocky bluffs, 48 miles north of Cairo. 
The land in this vicinity is well adapted to almost all descriptions of farming, but more 
particularly to fruit-growing. It is estimated that there are more than 250,000 peach. 



20 



apple, and pear trees, ami the greater p;irt of them now in beariiij^ order, and about two 
hundred acres of strawberries, and otlier fruits ia less amount, within two and a half miles 
of the station. There are several vineyards of from five to fifteen acres each. Sweet- 
]»otatoes and tomatoes are extensively cultivated. The Company's land is being rapidly 
settled upon by inilustrious and intelligent families from the North and East. Land 
set with fruit-trees commands a high price. The peach crop in this vicinity is almost a 
certain one. The hills have an elevation of 400 feet above the railroad ; and the deep ravines, 
rterving as " dead-air chambers," render them free from frosts that nip the tender vegetation 
in less favored regions. The town is not so desirable for residences as the adjacent hills, 
but is in all res])ects a good location for manufactories. In tlic village there are two churches 
(Baptist and Methotlist), a Masonic lodge of forty-five members, three stores, tin-shop, 
i)lacksmith-sliop, flouring-mill, saw-mill, cloth-mill, sorghum-mill, cotton-gin, hotel, and a 
very fine schoolhouse recently constructed. The shipments of fruit from Makanda, by the 
special trains, last season, were in excess of any station except Cobden. Of other produce 
sent to market may be noted 7,100 pounds cotton, and 3,.500 pounds tobacco. 

Cat'bondule is a rajiidly improving town, 57 miles north from Cairo; estimated pop- 
ulation, 2,500. It has three flouring-iuills, three carding-machines, twelve cotton-gins, 
nine dry-goods stores, eleven grocery-storey, four drug-stores, two furniture-stores, four 
grain warehouses, one agricultural-implement store, two tin-ware and stove stores, five 
blacksmith-shops, two hotels, one printing-office, issuing "The New Era" newspaper, five 
churches, and schools for seven hundred children. Among the leading productions of the 
])lace arc cotton and tobacco. The shipments of cotton in 18G6 amounted to 3,000 bales 
of 400 pounds each. One-fourth of all the tobacco grown in Illinois is sent to market from 
this station. In quality and fine flavor it is said to be equal to any produced in the United 
Htates. The Mt. Carbon Kailroad connects with the Illinois Central Railroad at this point. 
In 1867 the j>rincipal shipments from this station by railway, were as follows : 1,432,500 
])Ounds tobacco, 775,500 pounds cotton, 28,500 pounds hides, and 1,GG5 barrels Hour. 

General IJescriptiou of the District euihraced in the Plate. — 

A finely timbered country, much broken, covered with gum, j)oplar, sugar-tree (maj)le), 
mulberry, oak, walnut, and ash ; well watered by the Big Muddy and many small streams. 
The whole region is presumed to be underlaid with coal. The lands within three miles 
of the railroad are offered at from $10.00 to $12.00 per acre; those more distant at from 
$7.00 to $10.00. 50,000 acres are still for sale. The sales, since January 1, 1866, arc 
more than double those of the previous year. There is no prairie land in the vicinity, 
but the country is considerably improved : the wheat raised on these lands is nowhere ex- 
celled in quality. This plate embraces lands in Union and Johnson Counties. 



(SF.i: OUTLINE MAI', JPJOATI! 4.) 

De Soto, 63 miles north of Cairo, is a thriving business-place of about 800 inhabi- 
tants. It has three churches, two schoolhouscs, a printing-oflice, seven stores, one hotel, 
two flouring-mills, two saw-mills, one woollen and carding factory, and nine mechanic shops. 
Ten thousand fruit-trees were planted, and six new farms opened in this vicinity last year. 
The country is adapted to the cultiviuion of all kinds of fruits, and particularly aj)ples, 
peaches, and strawberries. Preparations are making to plant several vineyards this year. 
The land is equal to the best in tlie State for wheat, clover, corn, sweet and Irish j)otatoes, 
and tobacco. Much valuable fruit and grain land awaits the coming of enterprising and 



21 

industrious men. Coal and timber are abundant. The Company has town lots for sale 
in this place. 60,000 pounds cotton, 14,200 pounds tobacco, and 1,022 barrels flour, are 
set down among the shipments from De Soto last year. 

Da Quoin, 288 miles from Chicago, and 77 above Cairo, has a population of aho-.u 
4,500, and is rapidly growing. Fifty new brick and frame buildings, stores, etc., were 
erected the last year. The place contains a foundery, a machine-shop, a planing-mill, two 
flouring-mills, a wood-turning shop, four blacksmith and four wagon shops, cigar manu- 
factories, fifteen general stores, one wholesale and six retail groceries, four drug-stores, 
four clothing-stores, four boot and shoe stores, four millineries, two hardware-stores, two 
book and stationery stores, four hotels, one furniture-store, three lumber-yards, two baker- 
ies and flour and feed stores, and one printing-oflSce, publishing a weekly paper, " The 
Recorder and Tribune." There are five schoolhouses ; one costing $25,000, for a graded 
school, recently completed, is now in operation. The Christian and Presbyterian 
Churches are of wood, and the Baptist and Methodist societies have each neat edifices of 
brick. The country around Du Quoin is prairie, with strips of woodland, and is exceed- 
ingly fertile. The winters are mild and pleasant, with very little snow. Great attention 
is paid to the cultivation of fruit, especially the peach. In the season of 1866, over 65,000 
boxes, or 22,000 bushels, were sent northward. One cotton-gin is in operation, and, in 
1867, over 500 bales cotton were shipped from this station. The raising of sorghum is 
also an important branch of industry ; but the largest business is in coal, — 9 mines are in 
operation, and about 100,000 tons were mined in the last year. Tobacco is a staple article 
of all this region, as many as half a million pounds being shipped from here in a single 
season. 

St. Johns, 78 miles north of Cairo, has about 800 inhabitants. The chief business 
of the place is mining coal, 17,000 tons of which were sent away Ijy the railway in 1867. 
At this station there is a store of general merchandise, a warehouse, hotel, flouring-mill, 
sorghum-mill, blacksmith's shop, and a school, with an attendance of about 100 children. 
The township belongs chiefly to the Illinois Central Iron and Coal Mining Co. At present 
this concern is shipping about 350 tons of coal per day. Their mine has been greatly im- 
proved and repaired in the last six months, and at present they have about 100 miners al 
work. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate.— 

South of this region, the country is almost entirely covered with heavy timber. At this 
point, in going north from Cairo, we find the first prairie lands, which are of good qual- 
ity, interspersed with timber, consisting of walnut, oak, sugar-tree (maple), &e., &c. The 
climate and soil are well adapted to raising all varieties of fruit; tobacco-growing yields a 
large profit ; and the culture of sorghum is rapidly increasing. The lands belonging to 
the Company are almost entirely timber-lands. The company has now for sale alioiit 
64,000 acres, at $10.00 to $12.00 per acre within three miles of the railroad, and $7.00 to 
$9.00 outside of that limit. A small portion of the coal lands belonging to the Company 
are, for the present, reserved from sale. This plate embraces lands in Franklin, Perry, 
Jackson, and Williamson Counties. 



(SEE OUTLINE MAP, PLATE 5.) 

Tnmaroa, 85 miles north of Cairo, is a busy, prosperous town of 1 ,000 inhabitants. 
A large business in coal is transacted here ; two mines have been opened, from which are 
raised three hundred tons per day, the coal being of a very superior quality. Fruit-trees 



22 



tinivc well, and several thousiuul were ]>laiited durin<; the last season. Tlio Methodistij 
liavc a ehiirch here, and two other soeieties — Baptist and Treshyterian — liuld nieetin.!j;s 
iu the sehoolliouse. Here are live large and well-eonduetcd sehools, two hotels, two 
hardware-stores and tin-shops, two drng-stores, six stores of general nierehaiulise, book- 
stoie, elothing-store, three hlaeksmith-sliops, two wagon-shops, two furniture-siiops, three 
lunjber-yards, harness-l'aetory, flouring-niill, carding-maehine, &c. Large quantities of 
hay are pressed and sent to market. The production of cotton, tobacco, fla.\-seed, and 
cas or-beans engages the attention of the farmers in this vicinity. Daily lines of stages 
arc run from Tamaroa, both east and west. During the last year there were sent to 
HKirket from tliis station, 20,1)00 tons of coal, 287,800 lbs. tobacco, 36,100 lbs. cotton, and 
10,120 bushels oats. 

Dubois, 01 miles north of Cairo, is in a region where the prairie and the wood-land 
arc about equal. In this section are some of the best fruit-lands in southern Illinois. It 
is on the northern boundary of the great coal-field. The llailroad Company has many 
excellent tracts of land in this neighborhood still unsold. Many improvements have been 
recently made in the county adjacent to this station. Dui'ing the last year thirty new 
farms were opened, — mainly fruit-farms, — and about 5,000 fruit-trees were set out. The 
present population of Dubois is 500. The place supports two good schools, which are 
attended by about 125 scholars; a large hotel will be opened this spring; a coal-shaft has 
been sunk, and furnishes fuel for the town ; a Baptist and a Methodist iliurch have been 
erected; and there are in o]jeration five sorghum-mills, one flouring-mill, three stores, 
two blacksmith-shops, and two wagon-shops. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate. — 

The land in this region consists about equally of timber and prairie. The lands still 
held by the Company are almost entirely timbered lauds. The country is well watered 
by the Little Muddy and Beaueoup and their branches. The timber consists of sugar- 
tree (maple), walnut, oak, ash, &c. Climate and soil are well adapted to the raising of 
wheat, fruit, and tobacco ; all kinds of vegetables do well. The culture of tobacco has 
largely increased since the rebellion, and henceforth it promises to be one of the most im- 
jiortant crops of the State. The attention of those who are acquainted with its culture is 
called to this district. The Company has still for sale about 77,000 acres, at prices ran- 
ging from $7.00 to $12.00 per acre ; tlie larger portion of the land over three miles from 
the railroad is held at the lower price. This plate embraces lands in Washington, Jeffcr- 
Kon, Perry, and Franklin Counties. 



(SEE OUTLiyE MAV, PLATE 6.) 

Afihley, 99 miles north of Cairo, is pleasantly situated on a gently rolling prairie 
wliiih is watered by many small streams. The jiopulation is about 1,500. It is a place 
of considerable trade, and has thirteen stores for the sale of almost every description of 
mcrciiandise, lour hotels, three flonring-mills, one woollen-factory, one agricultural-imple- 
ment factor^-, one saw-mill, four blacksmith-shops, four wagon-shops, and four lumber-yards. 
There are three churches (one Baptist, and two Methodist), and a large j)ublic-school 
building, accommodating four schools. Stages run daily to Nashville and Mt. Vernon, 
l^ight thousand fruif-trecs and fifteen acres of small plants were set out last year. About 
tifty thousand pounds of wool were clipped and worked up here. The fiour of the Ashley 
mills is justly celebrated, and conunands a high price. The shipments of this article by 



23 

rail last year, amounted to upwards of 23,000 bbls. Cotton and tobacco are also arti- 
cles of export, — to the extent, last year, of 10,900 lbs. cotton, and 158,800 lbs. tobacco. 

iticJlvlew, 102 miles north of Cairo, has a population estimated at 1,500. Within 
the last twelve months more than twenty new farms have been opened in this vicinity by 
men who intend making fruit the principal crop. 170,000 fruit-trees have been set out, 
the half of which are in bearing. This is one of the best shipping points on the line of the 
road ; and more business is done here than in some places having double the population. 
The society in the town and vicinity is excellent ; the land is considered equal in fertility 
to any in the State ; and altogether it is a very prosperous neighborhood. Within a year 
and a half thirty-six dwelling-bouses of good and substantial character have been built in 
Richview, together with two brick churches (one Methodist and one Baptist), a brick 
schoolhouse erected at a cost of $6,000, and a large business block, also of brick, the third 
story of which is owned and occupied by the Freemasons and Odd Fellows. In this place 
there are five churches, four of which liave houses of worship, four public and two private 
schools, and a seminary for advanced scholars ; five dry-goods stores, two drug-stores, one 
hardware and furniture store, two hotels, three cabinet-shops, two harness and saddlery 
shops, one tin and stove store, a marble-shop, an extensive lumber-yard, a floui'ing-mill, 
saw-mill, and two grain warehouses. 5,200 bushels wheat, 3,100 bbls. flour, 440 beef-cattle, 
and 650 hogs were shipped from this station last year. 

Irvinffton, 6 miles south of Centralia, is situated in the centre of the richest farm- 
ing prairie in Southern Illinois. Improved farms are selling in the vicinity at high figures. 
The Illinois Agricultural College is located here. The farm connected with this college, 
nearly a section of land in extent, lies west of the town and adjacent to the station. A 
handsome college building, three stories high, costing over $24,000, and a large boarding- 
house in connection, costing about the same amount, have been finished in good style, and 
are now in successful operation under the charge of the president. Rev. D. P. French, 
assisted by competent professors. Irvington is situated on the east side of the railroad, 
on a plat of rising ground, giving it a view of a large scope of country around. Improve- 
ments at this station were commenced in 1863, and at present it contains eighty buildings 
and a population of upwards of three hundred. There is one Baptist church, and the 
Methodists and Christians also contemplate building. There are four dry-goods stores, 
one grocery-store, two harness-shops, four grain warehouses, a steam flouring-mill, wagon- 
factory, wagon-shop, and blacksmith's shop. Two hay-presses arc kept busy most of the 
year. Considerable attention is given to raising cattle and mules. Sheep-raising is attract- 
ing attention ; over 20,000 lbs. of wool were clipped the last year. This is destined to be a 
leading place for trade in fruit, — peaches, strawberries, and grapes. It is estimated that 
8,000 trees and eight or ten acres of strawberries were set last season. Irvington has a 
healthy location, is a place of good socict}', and superior educational and business advan- 
tage. The shipments of flour last year amounted to 8,354 bbls. ; of wheat, 4,800 bushels ; 
and of oats, 8,600 bushels. 

At Iloyleton, 6 miles west of Irvington, a colony of Northern and Eastern people was 
formed on railroad land in 1857, under the auspices of Rev. J. A. Bent. The success oi 
this colony has not been surpassed by any in the State, and experience has justified the 
statements as to the extreme hcaltiifulness of the district. A few miles west of here is a 
flourishing German settlement (New Mindcn), with several stores, three churches, one — 
the Lutheran — being a fine building. The surrounding country is almost entirely under 
cultivation, wheat being the principal crop. 

Centralia^ 253 miles south from Chicago, and 112 miles north from Cairo, at the 
junction of the Chicago Branch with the main line of the Illinois Central Railroad, is a 
thriving city of 5,000 inhabitants. It is located in the centre of a good farming district. 



24 



nnd has the traJc of a larp;e section of ronntry. It contains eight churches, — Lutheran, 
Piesliytcrian, Methodist, Cliristian, Roman Catholic, E[)iscoj)al, and two Baptist ; two 
large and three small schools, two weekly newspapers, five liotels, one plane-factory, two 
wagon-siiops, and fifty stores of all descriptions. The Railroad Com])any have an exten- 
sive machine-shop and foundery here. A good deal of attention is given to the cultivation 
of fruit, and large shipments were made in the season of '67, — by the fruit train upwards 
of 300 tons, and by express 600 tons, principally peaches for the Chicago market. 

Central Cittf is situated northward of Centralia, something less than two miles 
distant, and is a steadily-growing place, at this time having a population of 1,000. Fifteen 
new farms were opened last year, and 22,000 fruit-trees and 100 acres of" strawberries 
planted. The wool-clip is set down at 2,000 lbs. Early vegetables are cultivated to some 
extent, and shipped to Chicago, Dubu(iue, and other points north. The village contains 
160 dwelling-houses, three churches, three schools, two hotels, one steam-mill, two cabinet- 
shops, two blacksmith-shops, three shoe-shops, two wagon-shops, two breweries, one drug- 
store, and one tin-shop. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate. — 

The lands are about equally divided between timber and prairie. The prairie land owned 
by the Company has been mostly sold ; there are, however, a few tracts of fine prairie still 
for sale. The land held by the Company on the east side of the railroad is generally tim- 
bered, a large portion of it a young growth of oak, ash, and some bass-wood, &c. The 
Company has about 34,000 acres still for sale. The price of prairie-land ranges from 
$10.00 to $12.00 per acre, — the outside land from $7.00 to $10.00, — a large proportion 
at the lower figure. The lands lie in Washington, Jefferson, Clinton, and Marion 
Counties. 



(SEE OUTLINE MAP, PLATE 7.) 

Odin, at the intersection of the Chicago Branch of the Illinois Central with the Ohio 
and Mississipjii Railroad, is 224 miles south of Chicago, 121 miles north of Cairo, and 65 
miles cast of St. Louis. The location of Odin gives it the command of four markets, — 
Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Cairo, — making it one of the best shipping points in 
Southern Illinois. The hay-trade is important, the shipments ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 
tons per annum. The population of Odin is about 1,500, and is steadily increasing, and 
the place shows every sign of a prosperous inland town. The country is being rapidly 
brought under cultivation. A majority of the settlers are from Ohio, and are an intelligent 
and thrifty people. About 500 acres of land have been planted the last year with various 
kinds of fruit-trees. The wool-clip is large. During the last year a number of fine three- 
story brick buildings were erected, and probably as many more will be built the coming 
season. There arc in this place four churches, — Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Episco- 
pal, Methodist, and Protestant Methodist, and the building of another is contemplated 
by the sect called Christian, — two schools, thirty-five stores of one descrij)tion and 
another, four large hotels, one first-class grist-mill, one ])laning-mill, and four carriage and 
wagon factories. 880 tons of hay were shipped from this station last year, and also num- 
bers of live stock, and 14,000 bushels of grain. 

'Tonti is 5 miles north of Odin. At present there are no dwelling-houses just around 
the railway station, but a store is now in course of erection, and several other buildings 
will be put up during the coming year. In this neighborhood fruit seems to do well, 
and there are a number of fine orchards (both apple and peach) in bearing condition. 



25 

During the last season 26,000 boxes of peaches were sent to market from this station. 
Salem (the county-seat of Marion County), situated three miles south-easterly from 
1'onti, has a population of 2,000, and is rapidly improving. It now contains four churches, 
a female college, and other schools ; two newspapers, twenty stores, two hotels, two lum- 
ber-yards, two flouring-mills, two sorghum-mills, and two saw-mills. The court-house, 
a spacious, high building, was built about four years ago. 

Alma, 10 miles north of Odin, is a place of about 200 inhabitants. It is situated in 
the midst of fine rolling prairie, and the country around is well -settled up. The place 
contains three stores, two blacksmith-shops, two carpenter-shops, one wagon-shop, one 
saw-mill, and a schoolhouse which receives 125 scholars. There are ten peach-orchards, 
having upwards of 300 acres in trees, within two miles of the town. Large quantities of 
small fruit are sent to market from this place. About 4,000 lbs. of wool were clipped in 
this vicinity last year. 

Kimnundy, 15 miles north of Odin, is a thriving town of 2,000 inhabitants, having 
a good country trade, and growing as rapidly as any place in this section of the State. 
Upwards of fifty houses were erected last year. The land in this vicinity is highly 
esteemed for wheat, and for fruit is especially productive ; 200,000 fruit-trees are already in 
bearing. Within a mile and a half of the station are two good nurseries. Kinmundy con- 
tains three churches, having houses of worship,— Methodist, Cumberland Presbyterian, and 
Congregational, — and a Baptist society has also been organized; a graded school (a 
first-class building) of 600 scholars, and two select schools ; twenty-three stores, to wit, 
ten dry-goods, four grocery, two drug, two hardware, two furniture, two fancy-goods, and 
one book store, two hotels, two combined grist and saw mills, an extensive tobacco-fac- 
tory, two lumber-yards, a woollen-factory, several sorghum-mills, and mechanics' shops 
— blacksmith's, carpenter's, cabinet-maker's, cooper's, wagon and harness maker's, etc. A 
large four-story brick flouring-mill was erected last summer. Fifty new farms were put 
under cultivation in 1867. Two hay-presses are kept busy the year round. Large num- 
bers of horned cattle, sheep, and mules are raised in this vicinity. During the last year, 
the shipments from this station iricluded 24,000 bushels of corn, 11,200 bushels of oats, 
2,600 bushels of wheat, 140 tons of hay, 3,000 lbs. of wool, 5,300 hogs, 975 sheep, and 
450 beeves. 

Sandoval is at the crossing of the^Main Line of the Illinois Central and the Ohio 
and Mississippi Railroads. The country round about is rapidly settling up, no less than 
seventy new farms having been opened last year. At this time, the town has 1,000 
inhabitants and 300 houses. It is estimated that there are 40,000 fruit-trees growing in 
the vicinity of Sandoval, and that upwards of 5,000 sheep were sheared last season. At 
the station there are two churches, and religious services are also held in two halls ; two. 
schoolhouses, — one of brick, recently constructed at a cost of $8,000 ; seven stores, four 
hotels, one flouring-mill, eleven mechanic shops, and two gi-ain-warehouses. Distance from 
Chicago 250 miles, and from St. Louis 61 miles. The Ohio and Mississippi Railroad 
Company have an engine-house and shops at this place, which give em])loyment to many 
mechanics. Four markets, as at Odin, are at the option of the former and business-man. 
The Company has town-lots for sale at this station. About 50,000 bushels of grain were 
sent forward to market from this station last year. 

PatoJca, 13 miles north of the junction of the Branch and Main Line. Population, 
354. The town contains one steam flour-mill, two steam saw-mills, blacksmith-shop, 
wagon-shop, two carpenter-shops, harness-shop, hotel, shoe-shop, five dry-goods stores, 
two drug-stores, and a family grocery. The school is attended by ninety children. The 
Presbyterians have a church, while the Methodists, Baptists, and Disciples worship iu the 
4 



26 



schooUiuuse. The town contains about 60 dwellings. At least twenty new farms hare 
been opened in close proximity to the station in the last year. Several thousand fruit- 
trees have been jjlanted. The extent of land now in wheat is largely over any previous 
year. This croj), when jtroperly managed, has never failed to give a rich return to the 
farmer. Fall-wheat, well put in, is always remunerative in this locality ; and, notwith- 
standing the light crop of 1867, it yielded ctn average of SI 6.00 per acre to the producer ; and, 
in one instance, §45.00 per acre to a farmer who used a new species of wheat as seed. 
Good substantial farmers from Kentucky and Ohio are settling in this vicinity ; and in a 
few years the vast jirairies will be under cultivation, and small grain and fruit become the 
great staples of production. The principal shipments from this station last j'car were 
wheat and corn, — 4,700 bushels of the ibrmer, and 26,600 bushels of the latter. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate. — 

The laud in this district consists, in about equal quantities, of small prairies and timber. 
The lauds for sale by the company are, for the most part, timbered ; although there are 
yet a large number of tracts of good prairie land. It is essentially a wheat district ; that 
sown upon the ground after first breaking (sod wheat) is an almost certain crop. There 
are still for sale about 36,000 acres, at prices ranging from $7.00 to $13.00 and upwards 
per acre ; the larger portion of the lands over three miles from a station range from §7.00 
to SlO.OO per acre. The fine prairie lands south and west of Sandoval arc held higher, — 
S12.00 to $15.00 per acre. The lands lie in Clinton, Bond, Clay, and Marion Counties. 



(SEE OVTZINE MAP, PIRATE 8.) 

Farina is 223 miles south of Chicago, and 29 miles north of Centralia. One large 
brick store and a number of dwelling-houses were built last year, and the prospects of 
the place are gi'owiug better, year by year, as the country around is settled up. At the 
station there are three grain warehouses, one hotel, four stores, a merchant- tailor's shop, 
three biacksmith-shops, hardware-store, flouring-mill, • carding-machine, and hay-press. 
There is a brisk trade carried on in corn, wheat, sorghum, and hay. In the school dis- 
trict there are upwards of 200 children, and a very good schoolhouse was erected during 
the last summer. A handsome church was also completed, and is now used by the denom- 
ination called Seventh-day Baptists. A good number of the inhabitants are from the 
Middle States, and some from Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan, — a considerable majority 
being Seventh-day Baptists. There is a good opening here for mechanics This promises 
to be a first-class fruit section, as all kinds of fruit-trees grow and produce bountifully. 
Several large orchards were planted, and much fruit — peaches, apples, strawberries, and 
blackberries — shipped during the last season. Nearly every farm has fruit-trees growing, 
and in fine condition. As a stock-raising country this has no superior, — in some places 
the streams are running the year round, and there is always plenty of water in wells 
from 15 to 40 feet deep. Several parties are now making arrangements for manufacturing 
cheese during the coming summer. 22,250 bushels corn, 6,700 brtshels oats, 20,400 lbs. 
dressed pork, 2,000 lbs. wool, and 8,100 lbs. hides were sent to market from Farina last 
year. 

JLaclede, 4 miles south of Edgcwood, is a recently established station ; and, at the 
present time, contains 32 dwelling-houses and about 200 inhabitants. The village has 
a church, schoolhouse, three stores, blacksmith-shop, plow-factory, wagon-shop, flour 
ing-mill, and saw-mill. During the last year forty-seven new farms were opened, and 
31,700 fruit-trees ))lanted within a radius of three miles from the station. In the same 
district the wool-clip of last year was 4,750 lbs. Several farmers are engaged iu the mak- 



27 

ing of cheese. Much interest is manifested in the cultivation of fruit. A few apple- 
orchards, phxnted twenty years ago, have proven that the apple crop never iails. The 
peach is not so certain ; hut, in the last ten years, there have been six bounteous crops of 
this fruit. The small fruits — strawberries, gooseberries, &c. — yield abundantly, and 
large profits have accrued to the fruiterers. The grape has been planted in many localities 
hereabouts, and proves to be a prolific bearer. In the timber-land there are many sunny 
hillsides which, if cleared up and planted in grapes, would doubtless I)e as productive as 
any vineyards in the county. Ten acres of vines would yield a much larger income than 
a quarter-sfcction of land planted in the usual crops. 

Jl'.dgeivood, 215 miles south of Chicago, is a place of about 300 inhabitants, and 
contains three grain warehouses, a flouring-mill, hotel, three blacksniitli-shops, six stores 
of various kinds, harness-shop, tAvo shoe-shops, and two cooper-shops. There is a good 
schoolhouse, and the school is attended by 120 scholars. A Roman Catholic church has 
been erected; the Baptists and Methodists have organized societies, and have regular re- 
ligious services. The town is steadily improving. This is a fine wheat district ; and the 
fruit crop is almost a sure one. The farming country around Edgewood is being rapidly 
taken up and finely improved. Near the village are two good saw-mills. Some settlers 
from Michigan are located here; and many Germans. 5,600 lbs. wool, 1,174 live hogs, 
43,800 lbs. dressed pork, and 7,700 bushels corn are among the shipments from this point 
last year. 

3I(lSOll, 212 miles south of Chicago, is a thriving place of nearly 800 inhabitants. 
It is situated on an elevated portion of a beautiful rolling prairie, timber of various 
kinds plentiful and close at band, and water in an abundant supply. This locality is 
remarkably healthy, and the surrounding country is well settled with an enterprising 
class of people from the Eastern and Middle States. Two railroads have been lately 
chartered, — one leading liom Shawneetown to a point near Mason; and another, from 
St. Louis to Terre Haute, is already graded to Vandalia, — and it is confidently expected 
that both will strike this town, making it an important railroad centre. Coal is found 
within three miles of Mason, and the State Geologist affirms that a seven-foot bed will be 
struck at a depth of eighty feet from the surface. More than 16,000 lbs. of wool were 
clipped in this vicinity last summer. Large quantities of hay are produced here. Mason 
contains two churches (Baptist and Methodist), and $6,000 are now subscribed to- 
wards the erection of a new Methodist church; a large two-story brick schoolhouse, 
accommodating 200 pupils ; also three grain warehouses, one flouring-mill, steam saw- 
mill, lath and shingle machine, three hotels, four blacksmith-shops, three carriage-shops, 
two harness-shops, one marble-shop, two agricultural warehouses, two clothing-stores, 
four groceries, one hardware-store, one jewelry-store, two drug-stores, one boot and shoe 
store, and two livery-stables. There is a fruit nursery near by the village, and a large 
number of fruit-trees, many of them now hi bearing, have been set by the town's people. 
During the last year thirty new farms were opened in this neighborhood. In the year 
1867, the shipments by the railway were as follows: 15,800 bushels com, 3,000 bushels 
oats, 3,800 lbs. wool, 46,000 lbs. dressed pork, and 1,364 live hogs. 

Watson^ 206 miles from Chicago, is in a healthy district, and is slowly but steadily 
improving. Many settlers from Oliio are located in the vicinity. The soil is good, — 
well adapted to fruits of all kinds, wheat and vegetables. Ten thousand iruit-trees were 
planted last year. Ten new farms were opened, and about 2,000 lbs. of wool clipped. 
The village at the station has thirty houses and 200 inhabitants ; one flouring-mill, two 
steam saw-mills, four mechanics-shops, — blacksmith, cabinet, wagon, and boot and shoe, 
— one spoke and hub factoiy, four stores, two hotels. The two schoolhouses sufiice for 100 
pupils on week-days, and serve to accommodate, on Sundays, the four religious denomi- 



28 



nations into which the town is dividiMl. A hirj4C quantity of railroad-tics, fence-posts, and 
hard-wood liunljcr arc niannfactured, and shipjietl from here; and in the last year tiie ex- 
port of corn amounted to 15,200 bushels. 

Shoboitier, 6i miles south of A'^andalia. The farming land in this vicinity is bointr 
rapidly settled upon by an enterprising and industrious class of inhabitants, and is steadily 
rising in value. Among the settlers are many educated Germans. The village has 200 
inhabitants, one church, one schoolhousc (and another in process of building, to cost 
^2,000), a flouring-mill, reported to make the best flour in the country, a saw-mill, two tine 
country stores, a drug-store, two hotels, a stave-factory, aiul blacksmith, carpenter, wagon- 
maker, and cabinet shops. During the last year twenty-two new farms wei'c opened in the 
vicinity of this station, and 20,000 fruit-trees planted. A greater breadth of land was 
sown to wheat than iu any previous year. 

Vatiflalia, the county-seat of Fayette County, is on the Main Line of the Illinois 
Central Railroad, twenty-eight miles above the junction with the Chicago Branch, and 237 
miles from Chicago. The population of the place is about 2, ,500. It contains two flour- 
ing-mills, a foiindcry, two woollen-mills, and other manufacturing establishments of vari- 
ous kinds, thirty stores of all descriptions, and four hotels. There is an excellent graded 
school, with 200 pn))ils. Here are five churches, — Presbyterian, Methodist, German 
Lutheran, Roman Catholic, and German Methodist. Two newspapers arc published 
here, — " The Fayette Democrat " and " The Vandalia Union." The town is beautifully 
situated on rising ground, surrounded by wooded hills. Early settled, and formerly the 
capital of the State, it languished upon the removal of the scat of government to Spring- 
field, but has recently started afresh, and is now likely to become one of the more impor- 
tant towns of the State. The business of the place increases about twenty-five per cent 
each year. Within a year there have been erected a Presbyterian and a Methodist church, 
costing $20,000 apiece, two four-story brick woollen-mills, one large brick livery-stable, 
and about twenty first-class stores and dwelling-houses. There were shipped from here 
in 1867, to wit, 68, .500 bushels corn, 44,.390 bushels wheat, 13,400 bushels oats, 3,300 
bushels rve, 33,800 lbs. wool, 215,300 lbs. dressed pork, 5,522 live hogs, and 51,700 lbs. 
tobacco. The National Road, built by the Government in 1836, leads from Vandalia in 
a north-easterly direction. 

Vera is a new station, 5 miles north from Vandalia. Some of the best farms in Fay- 
ette County are situated in this neighborhood. The population of the village at the rail- 
way station is about 100, and there is a good schoolhousc, two stores, one hotel, one fine 
steam flour-mill, two steam saw-mills, blacksmith-shop, wagon-shop, and broom-factory. 
Ten new farms were opened last year, and 300,000 fruit-trees planted. The wool-clip for 
1 867 amounted to 50,000 lbs. A coal-vein has been opened, and, on the whole, the pros- 
pects of the speedy growth of the j)lace are very encouraging. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate. — 

This section of the country is about equally divided between small prairies and tin)l)er. 
Good well-water can be generally obtained at a depth of fifteen to twenty feet. Winter- 
wheat is here the standard crop. The great corn-producing districts are farther north. 
For men with small means, this neighborhood is desirable, owing to the cheapness of 
building materials. A log-house can be built at a very small cost. The timber consists 
of hickory, oak, &c. The Company has for sale about 45,000 acres of land, at from S7.00 
to $11.00 per acre, and a few tracts at higher figures. This i)late embraces land in Mont- 
gomery, Bond, Fayette, ElSngham, and Clay Counties. 



29 



(SJEE OUTLINE MAP, PLATE 9. J 

Hanisei/, 13 miles north of Vandalia, is a village of 130 houses and 500 inhabitants, 
situated in a small prairie, and surrounded by a large scope of well-timbered land. The 
surface is level, and the soil well-adapted to the raising of fruit and vegetables. The cut- 
ting and preparing of railway ties, posts, and cord-wood, affords employment to numbers 
of workmen, and gives considerable business to the town. The prospect for future 
growth and prosperity is encouraging. Six new farms were put nnder cultivation last 
year. In this place there are two churches (Methodist and Missionary Baptist), two 
.schools with an aggregate of 160 pupils, one hotel, one grist-mill, one grist and saw mUl 
combined, six stores, three carpenter-shops, one wagon-shop, two blacksmith-shops, one 
gunsmith-shop, two cooper-shops, and a steam flouring-mill. There were sent forward 
from this station last year 194,000 feet lumber, 850 hogs, 1,480 bbls. flour, and 1,900 
bushels corn. 

Oconee, 7 miles south of Pana, has been incorporated by the Legislature, and is now 
a town of one square mile in extent. About sixty new farms were opened last year, a 
majority of the settlers being Germans. The level and rolling prairie lands are inter- 
spersed with groves of timber, and are well watered. The climate and soil are well 
adapted for fruit, and much attention is given to this branch of agriculture. Within the 
last twelve months, 100,000 peach-trees, 10,000 apple-trees, 5,000 pear-trees, 2,000 cherry- 
trees, and 1,000 quince-trees were set out. The cultivation of the grape, the strawberry, 
and blackberry, are steadily on the increase. The peaches produced here are noted for 
their flavor, size, and color. Winter-wheat does well in this vicinity. There is a grain 
warehouse at the station, several stores, and a church, lately built by the Methodist society. 
A large district schoolhouse will be erected in the course of the next summer. 

General Description of the District etnbraced in the Plate. — 

A considerable portion of the land south of Oconee is timbered. This is the limit of the 
heavily timbered country, going north. A large lumber business in oak, hickory, walnut, 
maple, ash, butternut, and all hard woods, is done on the lands adjacent to the Kaskaskia 
River, and several saw-mills are at work on its banks near the railroad. The Company 
has 31,000 acres for sale in this district, mostly at $7.00 to $10.00 per acre, and some few 
tracts at slightly higher prices. The lands west and north of Oconee, adjacent to the 
Terre Haute and Alton Railroad, and about 80 miles north-east of St. Louis by that 
route, are very fine, high, rolling, prairie lands, and are held at prices ranging from $9.00 
to $12.00 per acre. The Company has no better lands at lower prices. This plate em- 
braces lands in Montgomery, Shelby, and Fayette Counties. 



(SEE OUTLINE MAP, PLATE 10.) 

Pana is situated at the intersection of the Main Line of the Illinois Central with the 
Terre Haute, Alton, and St. Louis Railroad, 220 miles south-east of Chicago, and 95 
miles north-east of St. Louis. A railroad is also in progress to Springfield, the capital of 
the State. The population, by census taken in October, 1867, is 3,100. Two hundred 
dwelling-houses were erected last year, and also many costly brick stores. A new public 
school building has just been completed at a cost of upwards of $30,000. The Methodist^ 
Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Roman-Catholic denominations have each their 
houses of worship. Here, too, is one of the finest hotels in Southern Illinois, built and 



30 



furnished at an outlay of ST.'j.OOO. There arc sixty stores and business-houses in opera- 
tion, and a number of steani-niills, — to wit, two flouring-mills, one woollen-inili, one sash 
and door factory, and one furniture-factory, and also a firain elevator, wliieli is worked 
by steam-power. Immijrration continues to set in this direction, and more than one hun- 
dred new farms in the vicinity of Pana were broken to cultivation last year. The wool- 
clip of this district is very important, and the raising of cattle, mules, horses, hogs, &e., is 
increasing. Wheat and oats are grown in large quantities ; and at this point, in going 
north, we first reach the great corn-growing region. Large areas are being planted to 
fruit of all descriptions, and particularly peaches, apples, pears, and grapes. The exjwrts 
of grain from this place are very large, considerably exceeding 100,000 bushels per annum ; 
besides which, in the year 1867, there were shipped l.-'JCO l)eef cattle, 475 horses and 
mules, 450 sheep, 800 hogs, 4,700 lbs. wool, and 1,653 bbls. flour. 

■Assumption, 9 miles north of Pana, has 150 houses, and 800 inhabitants. It has 
two churches, — I'l'csbyterian and Roman Catholic ; two schools, one hotel, steam 
flouring-mill, five grain warehouses, three wagon and plow factories, four blacksmith- 
shops, two boot and shoe shops, and twenty-two stores of one kind and another. The 
business of this prosperous little town has rapidly increased in the last three years. The 
soil and climate are adapted to the growth of all kinds of grain and fruit. Fruit-trees are 
planted as fast as the farms are taken up. A]>i)lc-trees bear in five years after being 
planted, and peach-trees in three years. About fifty new farms were brought under culti- 
vation last year. The growth of the town is in no small degree due to the enterprise of 
Mr. E. E. Malhiot, who, in 1857, planted a colony of French Canadians in this neigh- 
borhood. The settlement, consisting for the most part of small farmers, is now in a 
thriving condition, and comprises about 200 families, who cultivate 12.000 acres, and have 
many horses, cattle, hogs, etc. Sorghum is raised here in considerable quantities. Wool is 
also one of the principal commodities of this region. Enormous quantities of produce 
arc sent to market from Assumption, — in the last year, 109,190 bushels corn, 35,130 
busliels wheat, 22,240 bushels oats, 4,267 bbls. flour, 29,700 lbs. wool, and many beef cattle, 
hogs, and sheep. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate. — 

This district consists of high, rolling prairies, with an abundance of heavy timber along 
the banks of the various .streams. The lands still held by the Company are almost entirely 
prairie, but plenty of timber can be purchased of private individuals. About 4,000 acres 
still remain unsold, at prices ranging from $9.00 to $15.00 ])er acre, and a few tracts near 
the road at higher figures. These lands are in Shelby and Christian Counties. 



(SET! OUTLINE MAP, PLATE 11.) 

3IoatVCqua, in Shelby County, 15 miles south of Decatur, and 183 miles from 
Chicago (via the Illinois Central and Great Western Railroads), contains 150 dwelling- 
houses, and 700 inhabitants. The Methodists have a mccting-house, and three other 
religious sects — Presbyterian, Baptist, and Christian — are arranging to build places of 
worship !jt an early season. A large brick schoolhouse, built at a cost of $7,000, has just 
been completed. At this station there arc lour dry-goods stores, four groceries, six mechan- 
ics-shops, steam flouring-mill, saw-mill, and a hotel. The wool sent forward from this 
station last season amounted to 175,000 lbs. The farmers in this neighborhood arc very 
prosperous, and give extraordinary attention to the improvement of tlicir land^. Sixty- 

I 



31 

five new farms were put under cultivation hereabouts in 1807, and it is estimated that as 
many more will be opened this season. Some attention is given to the cultivation of flax ; 
and fruit-trees are not neglected, as many as 5,000 having been planted last year. Among 
the shipments from this station last year were 65,700 bushels corn, 51,330 bushels wheat, 
11,670 bushels oats, 4,355 hogs, 530 cattle, and 445 sheep. 

Macon, lO miles south of Decatur, is situated on the fertile ridge which extends along 
the south side of the Sangamon from Springfield to Tolono. This ridge is as good wheat 
land as any in the State, and second to no other locality in its adaptation to other gi-ains 
cultivated in Illinois. During the year 1867, over sixty new farms were opened out 
in this vicinity, and four nurseries started to supply the constantly increasing demand for 
fruit and ornamental trees and hedges. At the pi'csent time Macon contains 160 dwelling- 
houses (40 of which have been erected in the past season) and 1,000 inhabitants, three 
churches (Methodist, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic), a large brick sehoolhouse 
of the academic class, a flouring-mill, three sorghum-miTls, one grain-warehouse, two 
fiteam-elevators with capacity for storing 20,000 bushels of grain each, two hotels, five 
dry-goods stores, two drug-stores, one hardware-store, two restaurants, three blacksmith- 
shops, two harness-shops, two wagon-shops, one plow-shop, and two boot and shoe stores. 
The shipments from this station for the year 1867 were as follows : 79,840 bushels wheat, 
268,520 bushels corn, 26,770 bushels oats, 11,000 bushels rye and barley, 35,800 lbs. wool, 
525 sheep, 352 beeves, and 3,500 hogs. 

Wheatland, 6 miles south of Decatur, has 160 inhabitants, the township containing 
a population of 1,000. The farming lands are well watered, near to timber, and equal in 
fertility to any in the State. Improved farms sell readily at from $40.00 to $80.00 per acre. 
About 7,000 fruit-trees were planted during the last season. The wool-clip yielded 4,000 
lbs. At this station there is a warehouse, with steam corn-sheller, and elevators capable of 
handling 4,000 bushels grain per day, two stores of general merchandise, a blacksmith- 
shop, and a wagon-shop. The United Brethren have a brick meeting-house, and there is 
a sehoolhouse sufficiently capacious for the children of the town. Many impi'ovements are 
going on, and the number of dwelling-houses will be considerably increased this year. 
The shipments from this station in 1867 were 97,950 bushels corn, and 30,000 bushels of 
oats and wheat. 

Decatur, the capital of Macon County, is situated at the intersection of the Illinois 
Central and the Great Western Railroads, 168 miles south-west of Chicago, 204 miles 
north of Cairo, and 40 miles east of Springfield, the seat of government of the State. It 
contains 9,500 inhabitants, and is incorporated as a city. The place has largely increased 
in business, wealth, and population within the last few years ; and, indeed, all its pros- 
perity dates from the building of the Illinois Central Railroad. The country is watered 
by the Sangamon and its branches ; the soil being of extraordinary fertility, producing 
large crops of Indian corn, wheat, barley, flax, sorghum, timothy, clover, potatoes, &c. 
There are several extensive manufacturing concerns in Decatur, among which may be 
noted the agricultural works of Barber & Hawley (located near the railway station), 
devoted principally to the making of sulkey plows, — now extensively used in the culture 
of corn, and one of the best labor-saving machines ever invented, — employing 1 50 men, and 
turning out $10,000 worth of agricultural implements weekly; and also the extensive 
pump and agricultural-implement manufactory of Barnes & Lintner; four steam flouring- 
mills, making 450 barrels of flour per day ; a woollen-mill ; carding-mill ; linseed-oil mill ; 
paper-mill ; flax-mill ; sash and door factory ; seven coopering establishments ; two mar- 
ble-yards; and large furniture works. There are nineteen stationary steam-engines in 
use in the mills and shops here. There are two founderies and machine-shops, one large 



32 

distillery, two breweries, two livery-stables, two grain warehouses, two malt-houses, and 
live wagon and carriage shojjs. The stores, of which there are as many as seventy-five of 
\arious kinds, do a large trade with the country round about. The churches are twelve 
in number, aud supply the religious wants of many denominations, to wit, Episcopal, 
Methodist-l'2piscoj)al (two), Baptist, Tresbyterian (two), Catholic, Campbcllite, Protestant- 
Methodist, United Brethren, Winebrenarian, German-Methodist, and African-Baptist. 
The Roman-Catholic church erected here is the finest in the State, outside of Chicago. 
Hero arc two excellent high schools, a female seminary under the charge of llev. Dr. 
Tottcn, rector of the Episcopal church, and a goodly number of public schools of lower 
grade. About twenty new mercantile establishments, mostly wholesale, a paper-mill, and 
an extensive broom-manufactory, are now in successful operation. There are ten hotels 
in Decatur, four priutiug-oliices, three weekly newspapers, and three banks. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate. - 

The land is high, rolling prairie, of remarkable fertility, with plenty of timber within a 
reasonable distance, to be purchased of individuals. The Company has about 7,000 acres 
still for sale, the greater portion being in the large prairies east and west of the railroad, 
at from $9.00 to $14.00 and upwards per acre. Nowhere has the Company better lands 
at so low a price. In the settlement of Todd's Point, south-east of Moawequa, there are 
20,000 merino sheep, in large flocks. 



(SEE OUTLINE MAP, PJLATE 13.) 

Forsyth, 5 miles north of Decatur, is a small town, where considerable business is 
transacted. Situated in the midst of a good far;ning country, it is a convenient shipping 
point. Corn is the main crop, an average of 100,000 bushels per year being sent forward 
to market. Blany new farms and orchards have been recently started, and almost all the 
land in the vicinity has been taken up and fenced. At the station, there are two large 
grain warehouses, one of which has a set of burr-stones to grind corn ; the schoolhousc 
serves also as a house of worship for the Baptists and the Methodists ; there are two stores 
in the place, having a general trade with the surrounding country. The shipments of 
grain from this station last year amounted to 140,000 bushels, — 115,700 bushels com, 
12,000 bushels wheat, and 12,300 bushels oats, barley, and rye. 

JMaroa, 13 miles north of Decatur, contains about 1,000 inhabitants. It has three 
churches, twenty-five stores of various kinds, a large steam grist-mill, an extensive hay- 
pressing concern, and two lumber-yards. There is a large brick schoolhouse in which four 
seliools arc taught. A good business is done in hay and grain. The surrounding country 
has increased largely in population within the last three years, and many fine farms have 
licen started. The shipments from this station in 1867 were 209,330 bushels corn, 53,870 
bushels wheat, 24,200 bushels oats, 4,700 hogs, and G95 beef cattle. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate. — 

This is a prairie country, with some timber on the banks of the few streams wliieh water 
the district. The soil is very fertile, and the prairie generally slightly undulating, in 
some cases rather flat, but admirable for stock, hay, hogs, &c., of which large quantities 
are raised here. During the past year, attention has been directed to the cultivation of 
flax, which succeeds well, and which promises, with the improved method of preparing 
the fibre, to become one of the standard crojis. Corn, wheat, and oats all do well ; but the 



33 

former is the largest and most reliable of the grain crops. The Company has now for sale 
about 11,000 acres, at prices ranging from $9.00 to $14.00, — a large portion at the lower 
prices, say $9.00 to $12.00 per acre. These lands are in Piatt and Macon Counties. 



(8JEE OUTLINE MAP, PZATE 13.) 

Clinton, the county-seat of De Witt County, is situated midway between Decatur 
and Bloomington, 174 miles from Chicago. Estimated population of the town, 4,000. 
Great progress has been manifested in this neighborhood during the past year. Proposals 
for bids for the building of a schoolhouse, to cost $40,000, hare been advertised for. Fifty 
new farms were opened ; more than 10,000 peach, apple, and other fruit-trees were 
planted; the wool-clip amounted to 94,000 lbs.; 1,000,000 Osage orange-plants were 
delivered at the station, and will be set out for hedges this spring. Clinton is an old 
settled district, and was organized in 1845. Here are four churches, — Presbyterian, 
Baptist, Methodist, and Christian, — the Baptist erected quite recently, at a cost of S6,000. 
There are a number of excellent public schools, and artisans and professional men to meet 
the wants of the community. The manufacturing interest embraces two flouring-mills, 
one carding-mill, one planing-mill, one broom-factory, one plow-factory, two carriage-fac- 
tories, two establishments for working marble, four wagon-shops, two saddle and harness 
shops, and three boot and shoe shops. There are about thirty stores for the sale of dry- 
goods, groceries, clothing, drugs, furniture, hardware, etc., as well as a printing-office, two 
hotels, and charitable associations of Masons, Odd Fellows, and Good Templars. The 
principal shipments by the railroad during the last year were 78,000 bushels wheat, 80,420 
bushels corn, 14,280 bushels oats, 7,600 hogs, 95,200 lbs. wool, 40,920 lbs. broom com, 
320 dozen brooms, 110 bushels castor beans, and many sheep, horses, and other cattle. 

Wapella, is miles south of Bloomington, is a prosperous village of 700 inhabitants, 
in the centre of one of the most fruitful sections of the State. New farms are being opened 
almost daily, and improved farms are held at from $35.00 to $50.00 per acre. There are 
indications that all this district is underlaid with coal. The wool-clip last year amounted 
to 12,000 lbs.; 8,000 fruit-trees and hfteen miles of hedge were planted. The Railroad 
Company has a repair-shop, an engine-house, and freight-house at Wapella. The place 
contains three churches (Roman Catholic, Methodist, and Christian), schoolhouses, four 
dry-goods stores, three grocery-stores, drug-store, two hotels, two lumberyards, three 
blacksmith-shops, two wagon-shops, two shoe-shops, and one millinery-shop. The Com- 
pany have town lots for sale here. The chief articles of shipment for the last year were 
wheat, 35,070 bushels; corn, 75,630 bushels; oats and barley, 15,350 bushels; hogs, 
2,400 ; wool, 3,000 lbs. 

HeytvOrtJl, ll miles south of Bloomington, is situated in a fruitful district, and has 
a population amounting to nearly 1,000. Twenty new farms were opened in the vii;inity 
of Hei.'worth last year; the wool-clip was equal to 10,000 fleeces; and 5,000 fruit-trees 
were planted. There are in this place two churches (Methodist and Presbyterian), a 
graded school with 400 pupils in attendance, three dry-goods stores, two drug-stores, two 
boot and shoe stores, t^vo hardware-stores, one variety and five grocery stores, o;ie hotel, 
one steam saw-mill, three warehouses, one steam-elevator, two blacksmith and three 
wagon shops, and one lu nber and coal yard. A large steam flouring-mill is under contract 
to be built the present season. Several substantial business houses were constructed last 
year, and altogether the town beai-s an appearance of general prosperity and thrift. This 
5 



34 

is a fine section of country for the production of corn, oat-«, barley, cattle, hogs, &c. The 
shipments of produce fioni this station duriut^ the year just closed were as follows : 38,940 
bushels corn, 11,150 bushels wheat, 5,500 bushels oats, 6,500 lbs. wool, 80.3 horned cattle, 
and 6,050 hogs. 

Handolph, 5^ miles south of Bloomington, is a small station, but having a fine 
prospect of presently becoming a town. There arc two grain warehouses, with elevators, 
close to the station ; and also three corn-she Hers, one hay-press, a mattress-factory, a 
grocery-store, and a few dwelling-houses. The shipments of produce by the railway in 
1867 were confined mainly to com and wheat. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate. — 

This is one of the most desirable districts in the State for general forming purposes, and 
is thickly settled. The land is generally rolling, well watered with many small streams, 
and has an abundance of timber. The raising of hogs, cattle, horses, sheep, &c., is one 
of the principal branches of industry. The Company has now for sale about 2,000 acres, 
at prices ranging from $10.00 to $16.00 per acre, and a few tracts at lower prices. These 
lands are in DeWitt and McLean Counties. 



(SEE OUTLINE MAP, PLATE 14.) 

Sloominffton, the county seat of McLean County, 125 miles south-west of Chicago, 
is a city of 14,000 inhabitants. Two railroads connect here with the Illinois Central ; 
to wit, the Chicago, Alton and St. Louis Railroad, and the St. Louis, Jacksonville and 
Chicago Railroad. Another railroad — the Danville, Urbana, Bloomington and Pekin 
Railroad — is in process of construction; and still another — the Lafayette, Bloomington 
and Mississippi Railroad — is now being surveyed. Some noteworthy improvements have 
been completed during the last year, — a Unitarian church, market-house, hermctical fruit- 
house, schoolhouse (costing $30,000), flouring-mill, grain-elevator, amphitheatre, opera- 
house, etc. These are all large buildings, suited to the wants of a rapidly growing city. 
Extensive gas-works have been constructed, and a new steam fire-engine put in operation. 
The rebuilding of the Chicago, Alton and St. Louis Railroad shops (recently burned), will 
be speedily commenced. The new works will cover an area of thirteen acres. The work 
of macadamizing the principal streets has been undertaken, and will be continued during 
the present year. Wliolesalc bouses of various kinds are established, and their increas- 
ing business with the villages along the lines of the several railways gives flattering j)ros- 
pects for the future of Bloomington. But, rapid as has been the growth of the city, it 
scarcely keeps pace with that of the surrounding country. Farmers from all parts of the 
Union are making their homes here, and all the wild land is being rapidly brought under 
cultivation. The business of stock-growing is largely increasing. The region is distin- 
guished for the production of hay, which is of the very best quality; several hay-presses 
are employed. The city has some excellent pnblic schools, and no expense is spared to 
make them equal to the best in the country ; also two private boarding-schools for girls, 
and a Catholic seminary, under the charge of the Sisters of Charity. There are two daily 
newspapers, six hotels, three banks, two iron-founderies and machine-shops, five steam flour- 
ing-miUs, soap and candle factory, woollen-mill, two planing-mills, two plow-factories, 
sash and blind factory, four wagon-factories, and stores and mechanics' shops of all descrip- 
tions, suited to the wants of the place. There were ship])ed from Bloomington last year, 
'>n tlie Illinois Central Railroad alone (and in addition to the very large shipments by 



35 

the Chicago, Alton and St. Louis Eailrond), 297.710 bushels com, 53,480 bushels wheat, 
10-3,310 bushels oats, barley and rye, 4,595 bbls. flour, 133,100 lbs. wool, 8,325 hogs, 
2,900 beef-cattle, and 2,025 sheep. 

JS'ormalf at the intersection of the Chicago and St. Louis, and the Illinois Central 
Railroads, is two miles north of Blooraington, with which city it is connected by a street 
railway and a plank walk. Here are located the State Normal University, and the Sol- 
diers' Orphans' Home. The Normal University annually sends out a considerable num- 
ber of graduates, amply qualified to take charge of the highest grade of public schools. 
At present it has (including the Model School attached) 850 pupils. Normal has about 
2,000 inhabitants, exclusive of the pupils in the university. There are three churches 
(Baptist, Methodist, and Congregational), erected within the last three yeai"s, at a cost of 
S50,000, and a district schoolhouse. At the crossing of the railroads a large and well- 
furnished hotel offers accommodation to all travellers. Normal has a city organization, 
and a clause in the charter forbids the sale of spirituous liquors within its corporate limits. 
A vote upon the liquor question, taken last year, was unanimously against the sale. Two 
newspapers are published, " The Index," and " The Gazette," and united with the 
University are two literary societies and two libraries. There are two hardware-stores, 
two groceries, a drug-store, book-store, dry-goods store, shoe-shop, blacksmith-.shop, two 
wagon-shops, three carpenter-shops, two bakeries, liveiy-stable, and one flouring-mill. 
On every side stretch the nui'series, — the largest in the State, — and the farms used for 
the propagation of hedge-plants. These employ, at some seasons, as many as one thou- 
sand men. There are also two coal-mines in operation. More houses were built last year 
than ever before, and the business prospects of the town were never better than at the 
present time. 

Hudson, 9 miles north of Bloomington, contains two churches (Methodist and 
Baptist), a schoolhouse, two grain-elevators, one of which is worked by steam-power, 
three stores, two blacksmith-shops, two wagon-shops, two shoemaker-shops, and one sad- 
dle and harness shop. The present population of the place is 300. This is in the centre 
of an old settled district, where the Company had but a small quantity of land, and 
nearly all of which has been sold. In the last year the shipments from this station were as 
follows : 93,210 bushels corn, 13,600 bushels wheat, 22,200 bushels oats, and 2,700 hogs. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate. — 

At an early day McLean County attracted the attention of settlers, from the superiority 
of the land, which is high and rolling, and with a great abundance of timber. It is 
thickly settled, and the larger portion of the land is well improved. The great bulk of 
the lands owned by the Company were sold soon after they were put into market. There 
ai-e about 3,000 acres for sale at prices ranging from $9.00 to SI 5.00 per acre. The 
Company has also a few thousand acres of timbered land in Woodford and McL' m 
Counties, west of Hudson, at about S9.00 per acre. The land is among the bluffs ol tiie 
Mackinaw, and is considerably broken. 



(SEE OUTLIXE MAP, PLATE 15.) 

Kappa, 4 miles south of El Paso, has improved materially within the last year. 
Some twenty-five new farms have lately been put under cultivation in this vicinity. 
The town is within half a miic of the Mackinaw River. Population, about 350. The 
public .school has 80 scholars. Kappa has three stores of general merchandise, a flouring- 
mill, sorghum-mill, saw-mill, grain warehouse, two blacksmith-shops, and two wagon- 



36 



shops. 31,500 bushels corn, 4,100 bushels oats and wheat, and 630 hogs were shipped 
from here in 1867. 

El Paso is situated at the intersection of the main line of the Illinois Central, and 
the Toledo, Peru and Warsaw Railroads, 150 miles from Chicago. At the present 
time it contains 3,500 inhabitants, and is growing more rapidly than almost any other 
place on the line. About two hundred dwelling-houses, besides many stores, and other 
buildings, were erected during the last year, and in the same period the population Has 
increased one-third. There are eight clmrchcs, — Baj)tist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Congre- 
gational, Koman Catholic, Campbcllite, and Dutch Reformed. El Paso has two very 
fine schoolhouses, and another will be erected during the coming summer. About 600 
])upils are in attendance upon the various schools. The town contains a large steam 
flouring-mill which was during the past year enlarged to double its former ca])acity, two 
agricultural-implement manufactories, a steam planing-mill, six grain warehouses (one 
with elevator worked by steam-power), one iron-foundery, two hotels, and about one hun- 
dred stores. The surrounding country is settling up very rapidly ; it is considered the 
finest corn-land in the State of Illinois. A company is now prospecting for coal, and 
with good indications of success. During the last year the shipments by rail from this 
station included 10,680 bbls. flour, 19,520 bushels corn, 20,500 bushels oats, 4,665 bbls. 
jjork, and npwards of 1,000 tons coal. 

PdHOlci, 21 miles north of Bloomington. Population of the village, 160. There 
are three grain warehouses here, two of them with horse-power elevators, four stores, hotel, 
hay-press, blacksmith-shop, wagon-shop, and a broom-factory. Fifteen dwelling-houses 
were built last year. Population of the township, 750. The oldest settlers were princi- 
pally from Pennsylvania and Ohio ; many of the new settlers are from the New-England 
States. A vein of coal, ei feet seam, recently discovered by boring, is now developing 
by the sinking of a shaft. There were shipped from this station last year, 120,070 bushels 
corn, 12,950 bushels wheat, 19,120 bushels oats, 15,400 lbs. wool, and many cattle. 

3Iinonk is situated 29 miles north of Bloomington. Population, according to the 
l.ist census, 1,500. The place is growing steadily, atid already has six churches, — Presby- 
terian, Baptist, Methodist, Christian, Roman Catholic, and Lutheran. Much interest is 
taken in education. A large and very fine schoolhouse has been built, sufficiently com- 
modious for 600 scholars. A coal-shaft has been sunk, and will be operated this spring. 
Minonk has one small and three large grain warehouses, planing-mill, large grist-mill, 
two agricultural warehouses, five blacksmith and wagon-shops, three lumber-yards, two 
harness-shops, five dry-goods and grocery stores, three clothing-stores, two drug-stores, two 
grocery-stores, two boot and shoe stores, hardware-store, furniture-store, jewelry-store, 
one millinery-store, baker}', hotel, etc. This town is situated in the centre of one of the 
largest prairies in the State, and the surrounding country is becoming rapidly settled up 
by an enterprising set of people. Corn is the staple production. The shipments by rail- 
way last year were 329,510 bushels corn, 96,400 bushels oats, 37,950 bushels wheat, 6,800 
bushels barley, 2,150 live hogs, and 987 dressed do. 

General Description of the District emhraced in the Plate. — 

The land north and east of El Paso consists of a large prairie, being genex'ally rolling, 
and the soil deep and rich. South and west of El Paso there is some timber. The Com- 
pany has for sale in this district about 6,000 acres. Prices range from $10.00, $15.00, 
$18.00, according to quality and location. This district has improved rapidly during the 
last two years. The lands are in Livingston, TYoodford, and McLean Counties. 



37 



(SEX: OUTLINE MAP, PLATE 16.) 

Ulifland has 700 inhabitants, principally from Vermont. Here are four churches, — 
Congre.aational, Methodist, Second-Advent, and Baptist; a schoolhouse, costing $7,C'tO; 
two fiouring-mills, two grain-elevators, four dry-goods stores, one drug-store, two bhu-k- 
smith-shops, two wagon-shops, and a hotel. The country in this vicinity has improved 
vcrv rapidly during the last two years, and cultivated lands have advanced very largely in 
price. There has been a large immigration from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, &c. 
This station shipped, in 1867, 27,480 bushels of wheat, 197,220 bushels of com, and 
5-1,800 bushels of oats. Underlying the soil, white limestone is found, and mineral paint 
of good quality. An enterprising company is at work developing the coal-bed which 
geologists affirm exists at no considerable distance under the town. 

WenonOf 20 miles south of La Salle, at the junction of the Ottawa, Oswego and 
Fox River Valley with the Illinois Central Railroad, has a population of 1,600 ; in 1860, 
400. It is a prosperous town, and has a large trade with the surrounding country, which 
was early settled by people from New England and Ohio. This region produces large 
numbers of horses, cattle, and hogs. There are in this town five churches, — New-School 
Presbyterian, United Presbyterian, Cumberland Presbyterian, Methodist, and Roman 
Catholic ; a large schoolhouse, accommodating 600 children ; an academy, and three dis- 
trict schools ; one steam grain-elevator, and four horse-power elevators ; a steam sash, 
door, and blind factory ; three establishments for the sale of agricultural implements, doing 
a large business ; two nurseries, eleven dry-goods and grocery stores, three hardware- 
stores, two drug-stores, four clothing-stores, four millinery-stores, two harness and saddle 
siiops, five blacksmith-shops, four wagon-shops, three lumber-yards, carriage-factory, furni- 
ture-shop, jewelry-store, banking-house, printing-office, hotel, and brewery. In 1867 
twenty-six new farms were opened in this vicinity, 100,000 fruit and ornamental trees 
planted, 23,000 lbs. of wool clipped, and 312,460 bushels corn, 46,890 bushels wheat, 
100,750 bushels oats, 820 beef cattle, and 8,920 hogs sent forward to market from the sta- 
tion. The Ottawa, Oswego and Fox Valley Railroad was completed to the Vermilion 
coal-fields last fall, and coal is supplied to the town at low rates. 

LostanU 15 miles south of La Salle, is comparatively a new station, but doing a large 
and increasing grain business. A large portion of the buildings have been erected within 
the last two years. Here are two grain warehouses, with elevators ; a steam flouring-mili, 
with capacity to grind 3,000 bushels wheat per week ; one hotel, and another to be coii:- 
pleted in the spring ; two public halls, four dry-goods stores, two drug-stores, an agricul- 
tural-implement warehouse, two hardware-stores, a furniture-store, clothing-store, grocery- 
stores, harness-shop, wagon-shop, three blacksmith-shops, two brick-yards, and a lumber- 
yard. A church (Baptist) was finished last fall, and another (Baptist) will be built this 
spring. Good public schools and a high school are in successful operation. This is the 
best corn-producing district in the State, surrounded by a class of first-rate farmers, and 
prospering apace. The Vermilion coal-fields are within eight miles of the town. Few 
stations on the railway make larger shipments of grain. In the last year Lostaut sent for- 
ward 171,900 bushels corn, 42,200 bushels oats, 8,480 bushels wheat, and a large amount 
of live and dressed hogs. 

General Description of tJie District embraced in the Plate, — 

This is an open prairie country, with some timber on the banks of the streams on the west, 
north, and east. Coal is found in the immediate vicinity, aiul is furnished at low price. 
It is considered one of the choice districts of the State for corn, oats, hogs, cattle, &c. The 
great extent of prairie jjrevented its being settled as rapidly as st)me localities where the 



38 



laad and soil were inferior ; but during the last few ycais this district has made very rapid 
j)rogress, and, at this time, few points in the State are better settled up and improved, or 
liave a better class of farmers. Improved farms command as hi<;li prices as in almost any 
section of the State. The Company has now for sale about 3,000 acres, at from $10.00 
and $1'5.00 to $10.00 per acre, according to quality and location. Tlicbc lands arc in 
Marshall and Livingston Counties. 



(SE1<: OUTLINE MAP, I'LAIIS 17.) 
Tonica, This place is 9 miles south oi' La Salle, and contains 1,000 inhabitants. 
Here arc three churches, — Methodist, Baptist, and Congregational ; three schoolhouses, 
— a large fine one just completed ; a large agricultural warehouse, one large grain ware- 
house, three dry-goods and grocery stores, one grocery-store, two hardware-stores, one tin 
and stove store, two drug-stores, one furniture-store, three boot and shoe manufactories, 
one saddle and harness manufactory, one sash and blind maimfactory, three blacksmith- 
shops, two wagon-manufactories, one Houriug-mill, one large woollen-factory, just com- 
pleted, two millinery-shops, one bakery, two lumber-yards, one hotel. Some attention is 
given to fruit-culture. There were shipped from this station, in 1867, 0,700 hogs, 017 
beef cattle, 361 sheep, 100,000 lbs. dressed pork, 1,690 tons of coal, 326 car-loads of corn, 
6 car-loads of wheat, 4 ear-loads of rye, and 01 car-loads of oats, — altogether, 160,930 
bushels grain. 

Zid Salle, the county seat of La Salle County, 99 miles from Chicago, and 308}r miles 
north of Cairo, is at the head of navigation on the Illinois Kiver, and the terminus of the 
Illinois and Michigan Canal. The Chicago and Hock-Island intersects the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad at this point. La Salle is thus most favorabl}' situated fur commercial pur- 
poses, and large quantities of produce are annually exported. Immense coal-fields underlie 
the city and country around, and live siiafts are at present in operation, having capacity 
for mining and hoisting 600 tons per day. The annual product of the mines is 160,000 
tons. Population about 7,000. Considering the mineral wealth of the region, the 
manufacturing and transportation facilities, the healthfulness of the situation (the mor- 
tality being not more than three-fourths of one per cent), and the enterprise of the people. 
La Salle bids fair to stand in the first rank of the manufacturing cities of the West. The 
total business of the place last year amounted to nearly eight millions of dollars. The 
city has four churches, — Baptist, Congregational, Methodist, and Roman Catholic, — 
and others are about to be erected ; three public schoolhouses, with 950 scholars, and three 
private schools, witli 260 scholars ; a jn-inting-ofBce, publishing a weekly ncwsj)a])er, the 
" La Salle County Press ; " a glass-factory, having a capital of $50,000 ; zinc-works, ca])i- 
tal, $300,000, and which produced last year 2,000,000 lbs. spelter, and in the last four 
months 943,000 lbs. sheet zinc ; a National Bank, cajjital, $50,000 ; two grain warehouses, 
one with steam-elevator of 75,000 bushels' capacity ; brick-yards, making 1,500,000 bricks 
j)or year ; one foundery, ]jlaning-mill, door and sash factor}-, three grist-mills, twelve black- 
smith-shops, three furniture rooms and shops, five dry-goods stores, four clothing-stores, 
twenty-four groceries, three drug-stores, three hardware-stores, four shoe-stores, three tool- 
stores, three hotels, one carriage-factory, and three wagon-shops. The most of the 
produce of this region is sent to market by the canal, but during the last year the freight 
trains of the Illinois Central Railroad received from this station nearly 60,000 tons of coal, 
4,100 bbls. flour, and 14,500 bushels of grain. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate. — 

This is one of the oldest settled districts of the State, and is now thickly popidated. The 



39 

Companj' had no lands here except a few forty-acre tracts, which Have now been disposed 
of. The land had been sold by the Governmeut, or was included in the grant to the canal, 
before the railroad was located. 



(SEE OVXLINE MAP, PJOATE 18.) 

3Iendota, The city of Mendota is situated in the north-western township of La Salle 
County, at the point where the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad intersects the 
Illinois Central Railroad. Distance from Chicago, 88 miles; from Dunleith, 131 miles. 
Its location in the midst of a rich grain-growing region, together with its superior railway 
facilities, are giving it a rapid growth and a large amount of business. The first house was 
built in 1853. Last year the number of buildings erected was 114. Coal is abundant and 
cheap, and manufacturing establishments are steadily increasing in number. The present 
population of Mendota is estimated at G,000. It has twelve churches, — two Baptist, 
Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Universalist, Episcopal, Catholic, two 
German, and one colored, — the most of them fine edifices. The public schools rank with 
the best in the State. The schoolhouses are six in number, — the united cost of two of 
them being $70,000. The higher branches are taught in the Mendota College and the 
Wcsleyan Seminary. Thirty school-teachers are employed in the city. A large amount 
of agricultural implements are annually sold here, and the facilities for shipment east, 
west, north, and south make it a desirable place for manufacturing purposes. . Some 
large concerns are in operation ; an organ-factory, turning out $50,000 worth of cottage 
oi'gans a year, two founderies and machine-shops, three flouring-mills, woollen-factory, 
pump-factory, plow-factory, vinegar-factory, brewery, four steam-elevators, one tannery, 
two marble-yards, five lumber-yards, five wagon-shops, six blacksmith-shops, five hotels, 
six restaurants, two bakeries, two banks, and about sixty stores of one description and 
another. There is also a public reading-room and a printing-office, from which is issued 
an enterprising newspaper, called " The Mendota Bulletin." During the last year there 
were planted in this section 50,000 fruit-trees and about 5,000 miles of hedge-plants. The 
wool-clip amounted to 37,567 lbs. The shipments for the year, on both railroads, were 
300,000 bushels corn, 215,000 bushels wheat, 100,000 bushels oats, 75,000 bushels barley, 
1,930,354 lbs. flax and grass seed, 1,356 beef cattle, 4,916 hogs, 1,969 sheep, and 499,758 
lbs. dressed poi"k. 

Sublette, 9 miles north of Mendota, has about 300 inhabitants. It is in a good 
agricultural region. The land is high, rolling prairie, and there is considerable timber 
within convenient distance. The place contains fifty-four dwelling-houses, three religious 
denominations, one church, a tOAvn-hall, two general stores, drug-store, grain warehouse, 
hotel, harness-shop, two carriage-shops, three blacksmith-shops, and three shoe-shops. 
It has a graded school with 120 pupils. During the last year five new farms were opened 
in the township, about 1,000 fruit-trees were planted, and 4,000 lbs. wool clipped. In the 
same period, the shipments of produce from the station by railway were as follows : 33,900 
bushels corn, 10,000 bushels wheat, 21,650 bushels oats, 3,600 bushels barley, 2,135 live 
hogs, 1 8,000 lbs. dressed hogs, 345 head of beef cattle. 

Aniboy^ 104 miles west of Chicago, is situated in the midst of a rich prairie country, 
and is a flourishing business town. The population is not less than 3,000. There are 
four churches, — Congregational, Baptist, Methodist, and Roman-Catholic, — and a Union "^ 
School, employing a male principal and five female assistants. About 300 ])upils are in 
attendance. Other measures are in progress to secure still greater educational facilities. 



40 

There arc two flouriug-inills, one plow-nianufactory, &c. There have been ercetcd the 
past year six or eight new dwelling-houses, two large brick stores, a city engine-house 
and council rooms, and there are now building six brick stores, a large hall, and a stone 
church. There is one printing-office, issuing " The Amhoy Times," a weekly newspaper. 
The lands adjacent to and east of Aniboy are fine prairie, and well improved, settlement 
beginning here at an early day. The location of the town is desirable for those wish- 
ing to engage in mercantile or manufacturing business. There were shipped from this 
station, in 1867, 5.5,000 bushels grain, 9,800 lbs. wool, 88G beef cattle, and 2,C15 hogs. 
The Company have extensive repair-shops located here, employing some two hundred and 
fifty hands, and capable of producing any description of work required in the construction 
or repair of the rolling stock. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate.— 

Except in tlie region west of Ainboy (where there is considerable fiat and wet land, but 
well adapted to stock-raising), this district consists of very high, rolling prairie-lands, with 
some timber interspersed in groves. The Company has for sale about 22,000 acres. West 
of Amboy, and over three miles from the road, the price is from $7.00 to $12.00 per acre; 
at other points from $10.00 to $16.00. It is now known that in the low lands adjoining 
Inlet Creek, and also in those farther west, are vast beds of peat, which it is thought will 
fnniish fuel for all this region. The lands embraced in this map lie in La Salle and Lee 
Counties. 



(SEE OVTLIJiE MAP, PTjATE 19.) 

Eldenn, 6 miles south of Dixon, is a new station, established to accommodate the 
produce shippers. Ten new farms were opened in this vicinity last year, and in the same 
time about two thousand fruit-trees were i)lantcd. The returns of the wool-cli]) foot up 
4,000 lbs. There is a schoolhouse near the station, and also a general merchandise store. 
17,000 bushels grain were shipped from this station in 1867. 

Dixon, the county seat of Lee County, is a thriving city situated on Rock River, 100 
miles west of Chicago, at the crossing of the Chicago and North-Western and the Illinois 
Central Railroads. The present population is about 4,500. The growth of the place within 
the past few years has been rapid, and many individuals of wealth and enterprise have been 
attracted hither. It now contains seven dry-goods stores, three furniture-stores, eleven gro- 
eei'ies, three hardware-stores, three agricultural-implement warehouses, three flouring-raills, 
a feed-mill, a plow-factory, flax-factory, tile-factory, two founderies, seven blacksmith-shops, 
i'our wagon and carriage manufactories, three grain warehouses, the Lee County National 
Bank, six hotels, two printing-offices, publishing each a weekly paper, and five schools, with 
an attendance of about 550 scholars. The Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, 
Catholics, and Presbyterians have each effected organizations, and erected churches. The 
Baptists, Lutherans, and Catholics will build larger churches during the coming summer, 
their present ones being too small for their ])resent worsiiippers. During the past year there 
have been built six large brick stores, and quite a number of frame ones, and also about forty 
dwelling-houses. Sixty new farms were opened in this vicinity in the year 1867, and 
during the same time 16,000 fruit-trees were planted, as well as some hundred miles of 
Osagc-hedge fence. The Dixon Collegiate Institute is a fine brick building, located on an 
eminence commanding a beautiful view of the surrounding country, and having accom- 
modations for .350 students. The celebrated " Grand-de-tour " plows are manufactured 
six miles from this place. The shipments on the Illinois Central Railway last year in- 



41 

ehiJe 14,156 barrels flour, 38,170 bushels oats, 16,000 bushels other kinds of grain, and 
28 700 pounds wool. 

JVoosHflff , 7 miles north of Dixon, and about 100 miles west of Chicago, is a pros- 
perous little village of 300 inhabitants. The place has materially improved within the 
last two years. The dwelling-houses have doubled in number ; a good school house, said 
to be one of the best in the county, has been built; and many new farms have been opened 
in the immediate vicinity of the town. The village has three grain warehouses, two g)-o- 
eery and dry-goods stores, two blacksmith-shops, carriage and wagon shop, hotel, grist-mill, 
two boot and shoe shops, two carpenter-shops, and two cooper-shops. The school has an 
average attendance of eighty scholars. There are three religious societies, — Baptist, 
Methodist, and United Brethren. The town is situated some 250 feet above the level of 
liock River, and is considered very healthy. The settlers in the vicinity are prosperous, 
and in possession of suflScient means to improve their farms well. In the last year there 
were shipped from this station 30,760 bushels corn, 21,550 bushels oats, and 9,600 bushels 
wheat. 

Polo is 97 miles west of Chicago, and 90 miles south of Dunleith. Population, 2,000. 
The surrounding country is exceedingly fertile, — a fine rolling prairie, every acre of which 
is susceptible of cultivation. The settlement dates back as far as 1835. During the past 
year there has been erected a large and commodious school building, constructed of blue 
lime-stone, four stories high, which will accommodate 500 pupils ; the school has five 
departments. There is also the Polo Preparatory School, an academy in which pupils are 
fitted for an}"- college. " The Ogle County Press," and " The School Visitor," are printed 
here, — the former a weekly, the latter a monthly sheet. Here are five church edifices ; viz., 
Episcopal, Methodist, Congregational, United Brethren, and Roman Catholic. There are 
flourishing lodges of Masons, Odd Fellows, and Sons of Temperance. A steam flouring- 
mill, with four run of stones, and furnished with all the modern improvements, will be 
erected the coming spring. The business of the town gives employment to the following 
establishments : viz., eight general stores, four hardware-stores, ten groceries, two clothing- 
stores, two furniture-stores, seven grain warehouses, three hotels, three agricultural ware- 
houses, a bank, plow-factory, cheese-factory, planing-mill, machine-shop, three wagon-shops, 
five blacksmith-shops, and two harness-shops. Many fruit and shade trees were planted 
last year. Enormous quantities of produce are forwarded to market from this station. In 
1867 the shipments were 14,550 live hogs, and 151,700 pounds dressed pork, 1,225 beef 
cattle, 241,820 bushels oats, 103,020 bushels corn, 64,400 bushels barley, 86,510 bushels 
wheat, 41,160 bushels rye, and 12,800 pounds wool. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate. — 

North of Rock River, and south of the river on the east side of the railroad, the land is 
high, rolling prairie, well watered, with an abundance of timber convenient, and is con- 
sidered as about the best spring-wheat region in the State. South and west of Dixon the 
land is lower, but is good grass-land. Large numbers of cattle are fed in this vicinity. 
The Company's lands are nearly all sold. About- 5,000 acres in small tracts are still lor 
sale, at prices having a wide range, from $10.00 to $15.00 per acre. The lands arc in 
Ogle, Carroll, Whiteside, and Lee Counties. 



(SEE OTITZiINE MAP, PLATE 20.) 

HaUlane, bh miles north of Polo, is a place from which considerable shipments of 
grain are made, — in the last year exceeding 100,000 bushels. There is a church here, 



42 

used jointly by the Metliodists and United Brethren, a schoolhouse, three grain warehouses, 
two stores of general merchandise, two blaeksiuitli-shoj)s, harness-shop, wagon-shoji, two 
carpenter-shoj)S, etc. Three new farms were put under eultivation in this vicinity last 
spring, and at the same time many fruit-trees were extensively planted, and some miles of 
Osage-orango hedges set out. 

ForrestOtl, 80 miles from Dunleith, is a busy place of about 1,500 inhabitants, one 
third being Germans. Thirty dwelling-houses, a brick schoolhouse costing $15,000, a grain 
warehouse, steam j)laning-niill, three large and several small stores, were built during the 
last year, and arrangements are in progress to erect a steam flouring-mill before the next 
liarvest. It is remarked that there have been no failures of business houses in two years. 
The place contains six churches, — Methodist, Lutheran, United Brethren, Evangelical, 
St. John's, and Dutch Reformed ; a graded school with classical department, five teachers 
and 300 scholars; and a private school of 40 scholars; two first-class hotels, six dry -goods 
stores, two hardware-stores, two drug-stores, five grocery-stores, two restaurants, one 
bakery, two millinery-stores, two large wagon and carriage shops, machine-shop, seven 
grain warehouses, and steam elevator. A printing-office has been put iu operation, and a 
newspaper, " The Forreston Journal," established. During the last year, Eorrcston made 
shipments of grain as follows : 127,920 bushels wheat, 138,900 bushels oats, 56,150 bushels 
corn, 61,800 bushels barley, 18,980 busiiels rye, also 7,545 hogs, and 369 beef cattle. 

JSailet/ville, 7 miles south of Ereeport, has forty dwelling-houses, and 250 inhabi- 
tants. A brick schoolhouse, two stories in height, was built last year. This is in a fine 
wheat-growing district ; the land is high and rolling, and comparatively thickly settled. 
The inhabitants are principally New-England men, Canadians, and Germans. Apple- 
trees have been set out on almost every farm, and already enough apples are raised to sup- 
])ly the home demand. Good stone for building purposes is found in this neighborhood. 
There is a Methodist church in the village, and other sects, Lutheran, German Reformed, 
and Second Adventists, have stated preaching. The wool-clip is set down at 6,000 pounds. 
There are two general stores, one grocery, two shoe-shops, three blacksmith-shops, one 
wagon-shop, two grain warehouses. The. shipments of produce in 1867 were as follows: 
23,900 bushels corn, 5,330 bushels oats, 57,200 bushels barley, 19,580 bushels wheat, and 
9,650 bushels rye. 

General Descri2yUon of the DistHcl embraced in the Plate. — 

This is a fine wheat and oat growing district, and was settled at an early day. The land 
is generally of the best quality, well watered, and with an abundance of timber on the Rock 
River and its numerous tributaries and other smaller streams. The Company had con- 
siderable prairie-land in this locality, the bulk of which was sold soon after it was put into 
market. The class of farmei's, and the character of improvements, are better in this section 
of country than in some other portions of the State, and land commands as high prices as 
in any other district. The Company has yet for sale about 7,000 acres (partially timbered 
and broken land), ten to fifteen miles west of Baileyville, at about $9.00 to $12.00 per 
acre. The few tracts of prairie-land yet remaining are held at much higher prices. These 
lauds are in Carroll, Ogle, and Stephenson Counties. 



(SEE OirrZlNE MAP, BLATE 21.) 

Freeport, 120 miles from Chicago, and 67 from Dunleith, is one of the most thriv- 
ing business towns in the nonh-west, and has a large trade with all the surrounding coun- 



43 

try. The Galena and Chicago Union, and the Racine and Mississip))i Eaih-oads connect 
here with the Illinois Central Railroad, thus affording superior railway facilities. The 
town contains two railroad machine-shops, three flouring-mills, two planing-mills, three 
fan-mill factories, seven carriage and wagon factories, two founderies, pump-factory, wool- 
len-mill, one pork-packing establishment, reaper-factory, mai'ble-works, tannery, fifteen 
blacksmith-shops, three harness-shops, twenty-one dry-goods stores, six drug-stores, nine 
clothing-stores, five jewelry-stores, three fancy-goods stores, eight agricultural-implement 
stores, twenty-six groceries, four furniture-stores, four hardware-stores, five hat-stores, 
three leather-stores, ten shoe-stores, six livery-stables, four lumber-yards, six millinery- 
stores, two Yankee-notion stores, six weekly newspapers, thirteen hotels, three banks, 
fourteen churches, sixteen lawyers, and thirteen doctors. There are five public school- 
houses, fitleen schools, twenty-one teachers, and 1,450 scholars in attendance. The fol- 
lowing figures convey some idea of the rapid growth of the city : There were built, in the 
year 1867, six churches (costing $100,000), thirty stores ($240,000), four livery-stables 
($40,000), two schoolhouses ($40,000), five hundred dwelling-houses ($750,000) ; and, in 
the same time, three miles of streets were macadamized, at an outlay of $60,000. The 
city also purchased a new steam fire-engine which, with the fixtures, cost $15,000. The 
surrounding country is rolling prairie, well watered, and well timbered. Manj- new farms 
were opened last year ; and all the vacant land in the vicinity is being rapidly brought 
under cultivation. It is estimated that 40,000 sheep were sheared last year in the section 
tributary to Frceport, — the fleeces weighing 150,000 lbs. 

Eleroj/f 8 miles west of Freeport, is a place of 200 inhabitants, and has a large gran- 
ary, two variety-stores, a blacksmith-shop, wagon-shop, and a hotel. The town contains 
three district-schools, a German school, and a brick schoolhouse, in which there is also 
preaching on the Sabbath, by Baptists and Methodists. It i? proposed to build a Method- 
ist church the present season. Two miles west of the village there are two churches 
(Roman Catholic and Evangelical German). There are two extensive stone-quarries, and 
several lime- kilns near the village. A stock-yard has been recently fitted up, and large 
shipments of cattle are made from here. The land in this vicinity is nearly all under 
fence. The shipments of grain from this station last year equalled 56,000 bushels. 

LetlU, 12j miles north-west of Freeport, contains about 250 houses, and 1,600 inhabi- 
tants. The farms in this neighborhood are well improved, and have good houses, barns, 
and fences. A lai-ge grove of timber adjoins the village. Thirty-five buildings were erected 
last year. There are five churches, and eight religious societies ; to wit, Methodist, Pres- 
byterian, Lutheran, German Methodist, Baptist, Roman Catholic, Free Methodist, and 
German Lutheran. A large and wealthy society of German Baptists have a meeting- 
house two miles from the station. There are three schoolhouses, which are much too 
small for the requirements, and the basements of two churches are used for schools. 
Schools are graded. The land has been purchased for a new schoolhouse, which will be 
finished in the course of another year. Lena is, next to Freeport, the most important 
town in Stephenson County, and has about thirty stores, a hotel, five grain warehouses, 
a steam flouring-mill, foundery, and macliine-shop, barrel-factory, corn-sheller factory, 
planing-mill, and numerous mechanics' shops. Fruit and ornamental trees have been 
extensively planted. There is a fine public hall and lecture-room, capable of seating 
500 people. A rich lead-mine has been opened in Stockton, ten miles from this place, 
which will add something to the trade of the town, — Lena being the nearest railway 
station. Lead in small quantities is found in the immediate neighborhood. The shi^ 
ments from this station in 1867 included 14,900 hogs, 1,032 beet-cattle, 301,750 bushels^ 
oats, 57,190 bushels wheat, 24,560 bushels rye, 30,840 bushels corn, and 11,600 bushels 
barley. 



-u 



Nora, 20 miles nortli-wcsl of Frcc])Ovt, contains 900 inliabitants, and has two churches 
(Congregational and Methodist) ; two schools, — one of them graded, — with an averag« 
attendance of 200 scholars; two grain warehouses, — one with horse-power elevator ; two 
hot^fls, two stores, two blacksmith-shops, two wagon-shops, tannery, lumber-yard, sor- 
ghum-mill. This is a line farming country, well watered, and with plenty of timber. 
The wool-clip of this vicinity, last year, amounted to 12,000 pounds. Four now farms 
were opened. Improved farms command a large price. This station shipped in 1867 
14,280 bushels wheat, 74,620 bushels oats, 13,600 bushels barley, 1,780 live hogs, 8,770 
lbs. butter, .'5,360 bushels flax-seed, and 1.52 beef-cattle. 

Warren. The Minei-al-Point Railroad joins the Illinois Central at this place, 43 
miles from Dunleith, and 144 from Chicago. Warren has a population of 2,000, and is a 
busy and jirosperous town. There are four churches in the place, — a Baptist, a Metliodist, 
a Presbyterian, and a Lutheran, — and the Episcopalians are moving to erect a church for 
their denomination. Excellent schools are established, — both public and private, — with 
an attendance of upwards of .'iOO pupils. Within the past year twelve handsome dwell- 
ings and stores have been erected, and property generally improved throughout the town. 
The stores — thirty in number — do a large trade with the neighboring country. There 
are a number of grain warehouses in the jilacc ; also an extensive planing-mill; a bank 
(Farmers' National), with a capital of $r)0,000; a printing-office, from which is issued 
" The Warren Sentinel ; " two hotels, — tlie Burnett House, and the Warren Hotel ; two 
establishments for the sale of agricultural implements ; a grain elevator ; a plow and wagon 
factory; and numerous mechanics' shops. The yearly fairs of the counties of Jo Daviess, 
Fayette, and Stephenson, arc held on the Warren Fair Ground. Two lead-veins were 
opened during the last year, — one within half a mile, and one two miles from town. 
The building of sevci'al large business-blocks will be commenced in the spring. An idea 
of the fertility of the country contributory to Warren will be obtained from the shipments 
by railway from this station last year, which were as follows: 2.'5I,540 bushels wheat, 
081,150 bushels oats, 65,000 bushels barley, 36,590 bushels corn, 7,860 bushels rye, 3,000 
bbls. flour, 20,145 live hogs, 489,000 lbs. dressed pork, 3,825 beef-cattle, 87,600 lbs. hides, 
13,800 lbs. wool, and 3,101,390 lbs. lead. 

General Description of tlie District embraced in the Plate. — 

This is an old settled district, — fine lands, and plenty of water and timber. The Com- 
))any never owned much land here : a few pieces arc still for sale, at jiriccs ranging from 
SlO.OO to $15.00 per acre. The plate embraces portions of Jo Daviess and Stephenson 
Counties. 



(SEE OUTLINE MAP, PLATE 22.) 

Apple River, 21 miles north-cast of Galena, is an indu.itrious town of 550 inhabi- 
tants. Lead abounds, and is profitably mined in all this region. The village contains 110 
dwelling-houses, three churches (Methodist, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic), two 
schools, eleven stores, one hotel, three blacksmith-shops, one tailor and clothier, two wagon- 
shops, two carpenter-shops, one furniture-shop, one agricultural-warehouse, two grain 
warehouses, one lumber-yard, tliree boot and shoe shops, and one watch and jewelry shop. 
Four new farms were opened last year. The wool-clii) of tlie last season was 12,000 lbs. 
A cheese-factory is in successful ojteration here. The princijial shijiments from this sta- 
tion last year were 264,470 bushels oats, 29,130 bushels wheat, 721,900 lbs. lead, 68,180 
lbs. butter, 4,536 hogs. 



45 

Scales JHound, 13 miles nortli-cast of Galena, has a po]n)lution of aljoiit 500. 
Lead-raining is an important interest here ; the export of this mineral in 18G7 amounting 
to 864,000 lbs. In the same period 58,7.50 bushels of oats, 1,0.')5 hogs, 399 beef-cattle, 
and 155,200 lbs. dressed pork were sent to market from the farms in this neighborhood. 
There are in the town two churches, two schools, a grain warehouse, and three stores. 

Council Hill Station, 7 miles east of Galena, is within the lead region, and some 
large lodes of mineral are being worked in the neighborhood. Population, 250. Here 
are two hotels, one woollen-fectory, two grain-houses, two stores, one Methodist church, 
and a school of eighty pupils. The exports of lead from this station in 1867 amounted 
to 2,404,900 lbs. ; of zinc ore, 710 tons ; grain, 16,000 bushels. 

Galena, the shire-town of Jo Daviess County, is pleasantly situated on the Galena 
Eiver, five miles from its confluence with the Mississippi. Distance from Chicago, 171 
miles; from Dunleith, 16|- miles. It was laid out in 1836, and incorporated in 1839, 
and has now a population of 11,000. Being the emporium of the lead region, it has a 
large trade with all the country round about. Galena contains thirteen churches, — four 
Roman Catholic, three Methodist, two Presbyterian ; and Unitarian, Episcopalian, Swed- 
ish, and Congregational, one each. There are eleven pulilic schools in the place, edu- 
cating seventeen hundred and fifty children. The public buildings — court-house, post- ■ 
office, custom-house, and marine-hospital — are all sightly edifices. Among the business 
features of the place may be enumerated three flouring-milis, an iron-foundcry, two plow- 
factories, three packing-houses, three planing-mills, eight breweries, three distilleries, six 
hotels, two banks, fourteen grain warehouses, two sash, blind, and door factories, a large 
woollen-mill, an extensive boot and shoe factory with steam power, a vinegar-factory, three 
nurseries, and one hundi-ed and eleven stores. One daily and two weekly newspapers are 
published here; and there are two printing-ofiices exclusively devoted to job-work. The 
shipments of the railroad in 1867 include 5,350,900 lbs. lead, 1,837,200 lbs. dressed pork, 
23,400 lbs. wool, 5,554 bbls. pork, 484,425 bushels oats, 21,360 bushels wheat, and 17,600 
bushels barley. 

Dunleith (an incorporated city of 1,800 inhabitants) is situated on the east bank of 
the Mississippi River, in the extreme north-western part of the State, and is the terminus 
of the Illinois Central Railroad in that direction. It is a place of great commercial im- 
portance, and receives, for transshipment to Chicago and other markets, vast stores of 
the agricultural and mineral productions of Iowa and Minnesota. Distance from Chi- 
cago, 188 miles. Steamers ply regularly between Dunleith and St. Paul and the interme- 
diate towns on the Upper Mississippi. A ferry connects the station with Dubuque, on the 
opposite side of the river; and a bridge, to join the Illinois Central and the Dubuque 
and Siou.x City Railroads, has been commenced, and will be completed with all possible 
despatch. The freight sent forward from Dunleith in 1867, over the Illinois Central 
Railroad, amounted to 195,000 tons, and included 1,930,680 bushels of wheat, 146,053 
barrels of flour, 102,290 bushels of oats, 6,500 tons of dressed pork, 30,447 live hogs, 
4,766 cattle, and 400 tons of lead. In the extent of its forwarding business, Dunleith, of 
all the stations on the line of the Illinois Central Railroad, ranks next to Chicago. The 
railroad property has been much improved within the last three years, and real estate 
throughout the town has steadily appreciated in value. There is an iron-foundery here, 
also an agricultural-implement factor}', a planing-mill, six hotels, twenty-three stores, a 
grain elevator worked by steam-power, three grain warehouses, and three railroad ware- 
houses. Lead mining is an important interest here. Two "leads" have been struck, 
and ai-e now worked immediately in the town. 



46 

Generdl Description of the District ewhraced in the Plate.— 

The Galkna Lead Minks arc in an uneven countrj-, well watered and fairly wooded. 
The climate is remarkably healthy ; the streams are pure, and run over rocky beds ; and 
although the soil is not so deep and fertile as some portions of the interior of Illinois, yet, 
considering its advantages in other respects, this is one of the finest farming localities of 
the West. The lead district is about forty miles long by thirty wide, and probably no 
mining region in the world, of the same extent, has produced so much in proportion to 
the cai)ital invested. New and extensive leads have been opened this year; and, as ]al)or 
becomes more abundant, the yield will be proportionally increa.sed. Lead is often found 
upon fine farming-lands ; and many of the miners are the o^vuers of farms, and carrv on 
the two branches of business with equal success. The company has about 16,000 acres 
of land for sale, at from $7.00 to SlG.OO per acre, all in Jo Daviess County. Attention 
has lately been drawn to the mineral lands in the vicinity of Apple River, from wliich 
considerable lead is now being raised. A few miles north, near Shellburg, Wis., large 
quantities of lead are being mined. All this county enhances in value as its mineral re- 
sources are developed. 



(SEE OTTTT.INE 3IAP, PLATE A,) 

ChiCftgo. The annals of Chicago are involved in no obscurity, for the witnesses of 
its rise and marvellous progress are yet young men. In 1831 it contained twelve families; 
in 1840, the year in which it first figures in the census-tables, the inhabitants numbered 
4,85.3; in 1850, 29,96.3; in 1860, 110,973; and now, in 1868, the population is not less 
than 220,000. The assessed valuation of the real and personal property is $192,249,644. 
During the last year, seven thousand buildings were constructed, at an estimated cost of 
SSj.'JOO.OOO. Included in this number are five schoolhouses and six churches, and 
many business-blocks and dwelling-houses of marble and brick. The lake tunnel was 
finished and new water-works completed, by which the city can be supplied with eighteen 
million gallons of pure water per day. A tunnel imder the river, sufficiently wide for a 
double roadway, has been commenced, and Avill be pushed forward as speedily as the 
nature of the work will permit. Fifteen miles of sewers were laid, and twenty-nine miles 
of streets and alleys planked, paved, or macadamized ; twenty-three miles of water-pipes 
were laid down, and thirty-one miles of sidewalks constructed. Since the organization 
of the city, more than $10,000,000 have been expended upon the streets. It is difficult, in 
the short space to which this notice must be confined, to properly set forth the commercial 
importance of Chicago ; but a few statistics, gathered fi'ora the trade-returns of 1867, will 
serve to exhibit something of the magnitude of the business transacted here. Of bread- 
stuffs there were received sixty million bushels, the shipments eastward exceeding fifty- 
one million bushels. The aggregate receipts of live stock were larger than ever before, 
and included 1,996,000 hogs, and 329,000 beeves ; of the former 758,000, and of the latter 
203,000, were sent to Eastern markets. 850,000 hogs and 50,000 beeves were .slaughtered 
and packed for export. The lumber-trade has assumed gigantic proportions ; the receipts 
for the year being 851,000,000 feet of lumber, 431,000,000 shingles, and 143,000,000 laths. 
The trade in wool increases year l)y year ; last year the receipts were 9,523,000 lbs., and 
the shipments 10,.546,000 lbs. The exports of lard reached 17,000 tons. 

The several grain-elevators have a storage capacity of 10,000,000 bushels, and are among 
the wonders of the city. The Union Stock Yards, in the fitting-up of which upwards of 
$1,0()0,((00 were ex])ended, are arranged to receive as many as one himdrcd thousand 
head of beef cattle, hogs, and sheep. There are eleven miles of dockage, in the improve- 



47 

ment of which $1,200,000 have been expendcil. The arrivals of vessels engaged irt 
lake navigation number 12,230. The wholesale trade in dry-goods last year reached 
$30,000,000 ; in groceries, $35,000,000 ; in hardware, $20,000,000 ; boots and shoes, 
$15,000,000; clothing, $10,000,000. The estimated commercial business is placed at 
$300,000,000. The internal revenue collections for the year amount to nearly four mil- 
lion dollars; of which $1,736,000 were collected upon manufactures, $300,000 from rail- 
roads, and $1,120,000 upon incomes. The banks and insurance-companies have an 
aggregate capital of $12,000,000. Chicago has upwards of one hundred churches, repre- 
senting almost every shade of religious faith ; and numerous hospitals and asylums for 
the sick and blind and poor. The public schools are acknowledged upon all hands to be 
in every respect equal to the best in the country ; while the University and other semina- 
ries of learning are in no way behind similar institutions in the older cities. And finally, 
the city is growing as rapidly now as at any period in its history ; nor is it likely to yield 
the position which has been accorded to it as the first of the great interior cities of the 
United States. 

Hyde Parh contains many sightly houses ; and numbers of the business men of 
Chicago reside here, attracted by the salubrity of the place, the beauty of the situation, 
and the intelligent society which abounds. In the summer season it is much resorted to 
as a bathing-place. The distance from the central station of Chicago to Hyde Park is 
seven miles, and trains are run to and fro almost hourly. There is an excellent public 
school, a private seminary for girls, a church, and a hotel ; and, in the vicinity of the lat- 
ter, there are some fine walks and pleasant drives. 



(SEE OUTLINE MAP, PLATE 23.) 

Calumet, 14 miles south of Chicago, is at the junction of the Michigan Central with 
the Illinois Central Kailroad. The land in this vicinity is low and wet, and the farms are 
small, and mainly devoted to grass, — Chicago being a profitable market for the. hay 
produced in this neighborhood. There is also something done in the way of market- 
gardening 

TJlornton, 23^ miles south of Chicago, has a population of 350 ; old Thornton, three 
miles east, has 250 inhabitants. The land in this vicinity is good for grass, vegetables, 
dairy farming, &c. North-east of Thornton there is a Dutch settlement, which is in a 
very prosperous condition. Near to this town some of the wealthy citizens of Chicago 
have large and well-improved farms, raising oats, spring wheat, hay, vegetables, &c. The 
Chicago and Great-Eastern Railroad crosses the Illinois Central at the Calumet River, six 
miles north of Thornton. In the village at the station there are two churches (Presby- 
terian and German), two schools (English and German), three stores of general mer- 
chandise, five hotels, one flouring-mill, three blacksmith-shops, two wagon-shops, four 
shoe-shops, one harness-shop, one agricultural-implement factory, one hay-press, and one 
cheese-factory. Some attention has been given to fruit, and 5,000 fruit-trees were planted 
last year. Wool-growing is attracting some attention, the clip for 1867 amountmg to 
2,000 lbs. 580 tons hay were sent to market by th« railway, together with 32,500 lbs. 
dressed pork, and about 10,000 bushels grain. < 

Matteson, The Jolliet Cut-off crosses the Illinois Central Railroad at Matteson. 
This town has a population of 1,500, and from its location will necessarily become a place 
of considerable importance. Most of the land in the neighborhood has been taken up, 



48 

and is now under good cultivation. Matteson has four churches (three Lutheran and 
one Roman-Catholic) ; six public and four private schools, with an attendance of 550 chil- 
dren ; four hotels, three stores of general merchandise, three blacksraith-shops, two wagon- 
shops, one sorghum-mill, one grain-elevator, worked by steam, and one steam flouring- 
mill and grain-dryer. The sliipnients from Matteson in 1867 were 23,550 bushels oats, 
7,600 bushels corn, 1,148 bbls. Hour, aud upwards of 1,000 sheep and hogs. 

Hichton Station is 28^ miles south of Chicago. The land in the neighborhood is 
very rich, and with proper drainage is made extremely productive. The village is only 
one mile from Matteson, and has a population of aOO, a Roman-Catholic and a Lutheran 
church, a school of forty pupils, a hotel, and a store. This station sent forward to mar- 
ket, in 1867, 13,000 bushels of wheat, corn, and barley, aud 60,100 bushels of oats. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate. — 

A portion of the land in this section is low; but most of it is susceptible of drainage. 
The soil is very rich ; and, owing to the nearness to Cliicago, all lands that arc tillable are 
very valuable for pasturage, dairy-farms, vegetable-gardens, &c. All the dry lands held 
by the Company have been sold. It yet holds for sale about 5,000 acres of low lands 
near Calumet. The expenditure of capital in draining some of the lands in this district 
would, it is believed, be a profitable investment. This plate embraces portions of Cook 
aud Will Counties. 



(SEE OUTZIKE MAV, PLATE 34.) 

Monee^ 34 miles from Chicago, is the market-town for a wide scope of country. The 
facilities for handling grain, and the keen competition among the buyers of produce, have 
resulted in doubling the business of the place within the last two years. The village at 
the station has 250 houses and 1,500 inhabitants ; the township has a population of about 
3,000. In the townshij) several new forms have been recently opened, and two cheese- 
factories have been established, which make into cheese the milk of three hundred cows. 
The wool-clip last year weighed 10,000 lbs. About 8,000 fruit-trees were planted dui'ing 
the year. This is the highest point on the railroad between Chicago and Cairo, being on 
the line of the summit which separates the waters flowing to the Great Lakes from those 
flowing to the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico. There arc a number of English and 
many German settlers in this vicinity. In the village there arc lour churches, — Congre- 
gational, Metliodist, Roman-Catholic, and German-Evangelical, — three of which were 
erected last year ; one steam flouring-mill, three grain-elevators, four dry-goods stores, 
two grocery-stores, one drug-store, three blacksmith-shops, two wagon-shops, two mer- 
chant tailors, four boot aud shoe factories, three hotels, and a printing-office. The build- 
ing of an academy was completed last year, and there are now ample means for the 
education of the youth of the town and country adjacent. The shipments of produce from 
Monee for the year 1867 include 298,400 bushels oats, 70,950 bushels corn, 29,200 bushels 
wheat, 27,000 bushels barley, 5,000 bushels grass-seed, 25,000 bushels flax-seed, 1,355 live 
hogs, and 252,200 lbs. dressed hogs, and 213 beef cattle. 

Peotone, 40 miles south of Chicago, has 1,000 inhabitants (in the township), and 
contains two cliurches (Methodist aiul Evangelical), four stores, two hotels, three black- 
smith-shops, two wagon-shops, a furniture-shop, pump-factory, grain-elevator, and grain 
warehouse. Altogether in the township there arc seven schoolhouses, — the one in the 



49 

village having a regular attendance of forty pupils. The fine quality of the soil is attract- 
ing settlers, and the land is rapidly being brought under cultivation. There are several 
large and well-improved farms in the neighborhood, and sheep-raising is a rapidly-increas- 
ing branch of industry. During the last yeai-, fifteen new farms were opened, and the 
preparations are going forward to enclose as many more this spring. Three thousand 
fruit-trees were set out last season ; wool-clip, 4,000 lbs. Within the same period upwards 
of one and a half million feet of lumber were brought to the place, all of which have been 
used up in improvements within a range of ten miles from the station. The staple ship- 
ments for the year were 71,250 bushels corn, 27,000 bushels wheat, 50,700 bushels oats, 
543 head of beef cattle, 1,039 hogs, 100 tons hay, and 900 bushels grass-seed. 

Manteno, 46|^ miles from Chicago. Population of the township, 1,600 ; of the 
village at the station, 800. The land is superior for grain, as well as stock-raising, and 
has an enhanced value on account of its proximity to the Chicago market. There are 
three churches in the place, — Methodist, Presbyterian, and Roman-Catholic, — and three 
schools (one of them a select school), attended by 200 scholars. At the station are three 
grain-elevators, one worked by steam and two by horse-power, and a grist-mill. It is a 
good trading-point, and has six stores, two hotels, a lumber-yard, and blacksmiths, wagon- 
wrights, carpenters, and other mechanics. There is a stone quarry within a quarter of a 
mile of the station. A considerable portion of the settlers south-east of Manteno are 
French Canadians. This station exported, in 1867, 27,900 bushels of wheat, 257,050 
bushels of corn, 136,750 bushels of oats, 7,000 bushels of barley, 18,000 pounds of dressed 
pork, 959 head of cattle, and 4,912 live hogs. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate.— 

The land in this district is prairie, with very little timber : the greater part of it is rolling, 
and the soil rich. Owing to its nearness to Chicago, the lands in this vicinity are very 
desirable for the raising of vegetables, &c., and for dairy farming. Large quantities of 
spring wheat, oats, barley, &c., are raised annually, as well as many cattle, hogs, and 
sheep. A large portion of the live stock is driven to the Chicago market on foot. Almost 
all the Company's lands have been sold ; a few small tracts, amounting to about 1,500 
acres, still remain unsold ; price from $13.00 to $18.00 per acre. These lands are in 
Will and Kankakee Counties. 



(SEE OUXIjINE MAF, FJLATE 25 1) 

KanlcaheCf the county seat of Kankakee County, situated on the north bank of the 
Kankakee River, 56 miles from Chicago, has grown up from a forest since the building of the 
railroad, and now contains a population of 6,000. It has one woollen-factory, one flouring- 
mill, capable of grinding 1,500 bushels of wheat per day, one linseed-oil mill, one foundery 
and machine-shop, three manufactories of farming implements, three can-iage and wagon 
shops, two tanneries, and three perpetual burning lime-kilns. The inexhaustible quarries 
of the finest quality of limestone arc not to be overlooked in counting the wealth of Kan- 
kakee, furnishing as they do stone and lime for the building purposes of the city and for 
exportation. The river has a width of 500 feet, with a dam making a fall of ten feet, and 
producing a water-power unsurpassed in Illinois. At present this power is used onlv to a*-^ 
limited extent, but no point in the State offisrs greater inducements for the establishment 
of almost every kind of factory. The Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians have each 
two churches, — the Methodists have during the last year erected a handsome stone church, 
7 



50 

at a cost exceeding $40,000, — and the Congrcgationalists, Lutherans, Roman Catholics, 
iind Episcopalians one each. The schools rank with the best in the Union. There are 
tour select schools of high grade; the Sisters of Mercy have lately erected a very large 
building for school purposes ; the Kankakee Seminary, a chartered institution ; the High 
School, with three teachers and a superintendent; and the Graded School, with twelve 
teachers and a superintendent. The attendance of pupils is fully 1,000. The place is 
having a steady increase of population and business. During the past season one hundred 
buildings were erected, many of them fine and costly structures, and the coming season 
promises to be an equally busy one in the building line. The stores of one kind and 
another number about forty. There are two private banks, four hotels, five lumber-yards, 
six grain warehouses, two bakeries, and two printing-offices, issuing " The Kankakee 
Gazette " aud " The Kankakee Journal." The Kankakee and the Iroquois Rivers and 
their tributaries afford a copious supply of water to the county, and there is a great plenty 
of wood and coal, — the latter abounding in the western part of the county, where several 
shafts have already been opened and are being successfully worked. During the last year 
this station sent to the Chicago market 455,990 bushels corn, 210,200 bushels oats, 44,000 
bushels wheat, barley, and rye, 1,345 beef-cattle, 3,750 live hogs, 152,800 pounds dressed 
pork, 16,200 pounds wool, 8,480 barrels flour, and 6,399 bushels potatoes. 

Chehanse. This station is 64i miles south of Chicago. The country hereabouts is 
watered by the Iroquois, and is well adapted to grazing. The population and business 
of the town have doubled in the last three years. At this time the township has a popu- 
lation of 2,000, and the village about 600. Two churches, Methodist and Roman 
Catholic, were erected last year ; also an elevator with all the new improvements. The 
hay-press has been worked day and night, and has pi-epared for shipment about 5,000 tons 
of hay. Here are four general supply stores, two groceries, one drug-store, one agricul- 
tural warehouse, one hardware-store, two hotels, two grain w-arehouses, two lumber-yards, 
two coal-yards, one boot and shoe factory, two wagon-shops, three blacksmith-shops, a pho- 
tographer, goldsmith, etc. In the last year this station sent forward to market 86,730 
bushels corn, 29,280 bushels oats, 14,000 bushels wheat and barley, 5,900 pounds wool, 
1,370 tons hay, 1,452 hogs, 1,575 sheep, and 930 beef-cattle. 

General Descrijyfion of the District embraced in the Plate. — 

This land is mostly prairie, but there is an abundance of timber for all purposes. East 
and south-east of Kankakee, where a large portion of the farmers are French Canadians, 
the soil on a portion of the land is not of superior quality, being somewhat sandy, and a part 
is covered with small timber. West of the railroad, the land is rich, and well adapted to 
grain, hay, &c. The raising of cattle and hogs has been the principal business in this 
district, but much attention is now being given to sheep-raising, large numbers of which 
have been brought in the past year by substantial settlers from Iowa and Wisconsin. It 
is the opinion of those well informed that no part of Illinois offers more advantages for 
keeping stock. There is a broad range for pasturage on unoccupied lands, and the grass 
is of superior quality. Mr. Lemuel Milk, who has a farm of 5,364 acres seven miles south- 
west of Chebanse, started in 1850 with a half interest in 160 acres of land, 2,900 sheep, 70 
cattle, 20 hogs, 10 horses, and farming implements. He has now about 2,500 acres in 
timothy, 1,000 acres in cultivation, and 40 acres in orchard, keeps about 3,000 sheep, 
winters 300 to 400 cattle, and grazes 500 to 1,500 head. Owing to the very large corn- 
crop in 1 864, he was enabled to winter 2,000 cattle and 1 ,200 hogs. The Company has now 
for sale 26,000 acres, a large portion of the land at from $7.00 to $10.00 per acre, — some 
parcels nearer the road, and in the more desirable locations, at from $11.00 to $14.00 per 
acre. These lands are in Kankakee and Iroquois Counties. 



51 



(SEE OUTLINE MAP, PLATE 26. J 

Clifton, 69 miles south of Chicago, has 700 inhabitants, and is surrounded with the 
best of grazing and corn lands. Artesian water is obtained here at the depth of eighty to 
one hundred feet, and thus at small expense the settler is supplied with an abundance of 
pure water. There are two churches in this place, — Congregational and Roman Catho- 
lic. The Methodists have regular meetings in the schoolhouse, and purpose building a 
church the coming year. The village also contains three schools, three grain warehouses, 
two hotels, two lumber-yards, two coal-yards, three dry-goods stores, two drng-stores, 
four boot and shoe shops, two blacksmith-shops, one wagon-shop, one harness-shop, one 
hardware and tin shop, one millinery-store, one watch and clock store, and a number of 
sorghum-mills and hay-presses. Among the projects for the year are the building of a 
flouring and grist mill, a high schoolhouse, and a cheese-factory. The settlers at this 
point are made up largely of the best class of New-England people. The society in the 
town is good, and more pains have been taken than is usual in the small towns to make 
the place attractive by planting shade-trees, grading streets, and building substantial 
and neat dwelling-houses, barns, etc. The shipments by railway from this station last year 
were as follows : 94,770 bushels corn, 16,750 bushels oats, 5,000 bushels rye and barley, 
713 hogs, and 516 beef-cattle. 

Ashkum, 73 miles south of Chicago, has 250 inhabitants : the township has a pop- 
ulation of 1,700. As many as thirty new farms will be enclosed the coming spring. 
During the last season five thousand fruit-trees and one hundred thousand Osage-orange 
plants, for fencing, were set out. The produce of the last sheep-shearing was 11,450 
pounds wool. At the station village there are two stores ; one large grain warehouse ; 
one hay-press, preparing for market ten tons of hay per day, for six months of the year ; 
one flouring-mill ; one lumber-yard ; one hotel; two blacksmith-shops ; two wagon-shops ; 
one cabinet-shop. The school has one hundred pupils. There are indications of coal in 
the neighborhood. The principal shipments last year were 1,180 tons hay, 13,000 bushels 
grain, 420 beef-cattle, and 480 hogs. 

Danforthfl'ih mW&s from Chicago, was established as a station in 1864. Within 
the last year eightv new farms, covering an area of 6,000 acres, have been put under culti- 
vation in the vicinity of this station. The receipts of lumber in the last season were 
upwards of 1,000,000 feet. The water for stock and for other purposes is mainly supplied 
by Artesian wells. The village at the station has forty dwelling-houses and 150 inhabi- 
tants, a good school with an average attendance of fifty pupils, steam planing-mill, general 
store, hay-press, wagon-shop, blacksmith-shop, hotel, and cabinet-shop. A flouring-mill 
will be put in operation the coming season. With the occupation of the farming lands, 
the trade of the village must increase. There is a good opening here for enterprising 
mechanics. The Company has some very desirable tracts of land, within a few miles of 
the station. 

Oilman, 81 miles south of Chicago, at the intersection of the Illinois Central and the 
Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railroads, is a place of nearly 1,000 inhabitants. It exhibits 
a steady increase, — the population and the business of the town having doubled in the 
last three years. Forty dwelling-houses and a dozen stores and offices were built last year ; 
and arrangements have been completed for the erection, during the coming season, of a 
large brick church of the Christian denomination, a first-class flouring-mill, a large grain 
warehouse, and many private houses. The schoolhouse here is second to none in the State. 
The Presbyterians erected a church about three years ago. In this village there are three 
hotels, four dry-goods stores, four groceries, two drug-stores, hardware-store, furniture- 



52 



store, boot and slioe store, two blacksmith-shops, wagon-sliop, harness-shop, two lumber- 
yards, two sash and door factories, and one grain warehouse. A nursery having some 
thousands of trees will be largely extended this spring. The surrounding country is rapidly 
improving, and merchants and mechanics with trading capital find here a good opening. 
This is regarded as one of the best grazing districts in the State. 

Onarga, 85 miles south of Chicago, has a population of 1,500, and is steadily in- 
creasing in numbers and in business. The prairie abounds in springs of clear water, and, 
for this and other reasons, this section of country is good for grazing and stock-raising. 
The increase of population during the last year has been about 800 in the township, and 
ui)wards of one hundred new farms have been opened. Artesian wells are bored here at a 
cost of from $-35 to $250. Considerable attention is ])aid to fruit-culture ; three thousand 
bushels of strawberries and blackberries were shipped from Onarga last season. A largo 
proportion of the settlers are from New England. The religious and educational privi- 
leges are noteworthy: five churches, — Presbyterian, Baptist, Congregational, Episcopal, 
and Methodist; the Onarga Institute, having nearly 100 students; the Grand Prairie 
Seminary, having in the last year 20 teachers and 248 students : a large public school- 
house has just been completed at a cost of $6,000. There is also a horticultural society, a 
pul)lic library, and societies of Masons, Odd Fellows, and Good Templars. About twen- 
ty-five dwelling-houses were erected last year. Within a few miles of the town there is a 
large cheese-factory in operation, and also a nursery for the supply of choice fruit-trees and 
shrubbery. In the village we find twenty-five stores ; a printing-oflice, publishing " The 
Grand Prairie Review ; " and blacksmiths, carpenters, photographers, lawyers, and doctors, 
to meet the wants of the people. 35,760 bushels corn, and 6,000 bushels other grain, 
3,400 pounds wool, 902 beef-cattle, 2,506 hogs, and 750 sheep were sent to market from 
this station last year. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate.— 

The land is generally prairie, with some timber on the Iroquois River and branches, on the 
east. It is not generally high and rolling, but, over ten miles from the road on the west, 
the land is much higher, and of very fine quality. The soil, except; east of the Iroquois 
liiver, is very deep and rich ; a considerable portion of the land, however, west and south- 
west of Ashkum, requiring more or less drainage to make it reliable for grain in all sea- 
sons. No better wild or tame grass lands are found at any point on the line, and this 
location is recommended to those who wish to establish stock farms. The Messrs. Dan- 
forth are doing considerable towards draining the low lauds in their vicinity ; and, as 
the country is settled up, a great deal is done by the dilfcrent farmers to this end. Tlie 
soil is deeper and richer than in almost any other locality. It is not to be understood that 
all the land is low; a large, portion is fine tillable land, and there are many good farms. 
The settlers now moving in are superior, as a class, to those who settled here at an earlier 
day. At Chatsworth, fifteen miles west of Oilman, there is a large beet-root sugar man- 
ufactory. The land north and south of this point is very fine and rolling. The Company 
has now for sale about 40,000 acres, a large portion from $7.00 to $9.00 per acre, the 
remainder from $10.00 to $14.00, and a few tracts at higher prices. These lands are in 
Kankakee, Ii'oquois, Livingston, and Ford Counties. 



(SEE OUTLINE MAP, PLATE S70 

Sulkley, 9." miles from Chicago, is in a very healthy location, surrounded by a 
ihrifty agricultural community. It has considerable trade, and, having the advantage of 



53 

being within the region of Artesian wells, it is destined to beeome a place of considerable 
importance. The land in this neighborhood is well adapted to stock-raising, as well as 
grain cultivation, being watered by a number of small streams and Artesian wells. The 
present population of Bulkley village is 250. It has four general stores, two drug-stores, 
two blacksmith-shops, one wagon and plow factory, one harness-shop, one boot and shoe 
shop, one flouring-mill, and one hotel. Preparations are making for opening a large 
number of new f\u-ms the coming season. It is contemplated to prospect for coal, Bulkley 
being in the coal-section which extends from La Salle to Danville. Considerable quanti- 
ties of grain are shipped from here, and altogether the place has a lively appearance. A 
Methodist and a Congregational church have been built ; and there is also a school, at 
which 75 children are in daily attendance. A new public schoolhouse, to cost $5,000, 
will be built this season. A planing-mill here is fitted up with improved machinery. 
The grain elevator, with corn-sheller attached, is worked by steam power. A considerable 
number of the denomination of Friends are settling in this vicinity, and are making valu- 
able improvements. They have just erected a meeting-house. Flax is cultivated largely, 
and it is estimated that 2,000 acres in the immediate vicinity of the station are devoted to 
its culture. 15,000 bushels of flax-seed were shipped from here in the months of August 
and September last. In the last year the shipments from this station included 34,000 
bushels corn, 2,461 beef-cattle, 2,490 hogs, and 2,000 lbs. wool. 

JLoda, an incorporated town of 1,200 inhabitants, 99 miles south of Chicago, is in the 
centre of the " Grand Prairie," which at this point is remarkably beautiful and undulating. 
The Spring-Creek timber, skirting the town on the west and north, adds much to the 
beauty of the location. Both town and county are being rapidly settled by an intelligent 
and thrifty class of people, mostly from the Eastern States. As a point for business, the 
facilities are not excelled in the rural districts ; and the healthfulness and beauty of the 
country, with the excellent neigiiborhood, form great inducements to those seeking West- 
ern homes with Eastern comforts. There are three establislied cliurches, — Methodist, 
Baptist, and Congregational, — and a society of United Presbyterians intend erecting a 
church in the course of the pi-esent year. An excellent graded school is attended by about 
250 pupils. Here are fifteen stores, one hotel, four blacksmith-shops, harness-shop, 
wagon-shop, cabinet-shop, sawing and turning shop, lumber and coal yard, and carpenters, 
masons, ete. The largest distillery in the State is located here, and receives most of the 
grain raised in the vicinity. There is also a large sorglium-factory, capable of making 
1,000 gallons sirup daily. A brick-yard, using Gard's patent machine, furnishes good 
brick at very reasonable rates. No houses for the sale of liquor are licensed in the place. 
The soil is rich and adapted to growing fruit, grain, or grass. Stock-raising is exten- 
sively carried on in this vicinity. The never-failing Artesian wells furnish an abundant 
supjdy of pure water. Two extensive cheese-factories are in operation ; and the ease with 
which dairymen can take care of their stock, on the extensive ranges of open prair e, 
makes this a very profitable pursuit. Many new farms were put under cultivation last 
year, and a number of- new-comers are preparing to open farms the present season. The 
shipments from Loda last year include 1,750 hogs, 414 beef-cattle, 220 horses and mules, 
7,260 bbls. whiskey, and 8,000 bushels grain. 

PaxtOfl, the county seat of Ford County, is 103 miles from Chicago, and 48 miles 
east of Bioomington. Population, 2,000. The place is of recent settlement, and its 
growth has been remarkably rapid. Paxton contains four churches, ten dry-goods stores, 
two hardware-stores, three drug-stores, five grocery-stores, two grain elevators, two hotels,'-^ 
flouring-mill, plough-factory, cultivator- factory, three wagon-factories, two nurseries, a 
bank, a printing-office, and mechanics' shops of every variety. The schools are excellent. 
There is a graded school for boys, with four teachers and nearly 300 scholars; a seminary 



54 



for young ladies ; and a Swedish college, called the " Augiistana College of North 
America," — to which the King of Sweden has presented a library of 5,000 volumes. 
A good many Swedes have settled in this neighborhood. They are intelligent, industri- 
ous, and exceedingly prospei-ous. The court-house is a fine stone structure, with a jail 
in the basement. There are numerous indications of coal, and the experiment of boring 
for it will be carried on through the coming year. It is estimated that three hundred new 
farms were opened up for cultivation last year. Farmers are turning their attention to 
sheep and stock raising. Osage orange is cultivated in the nurseries, and su])plicd to 
the farmers for hedges, and during the last year some hundreds of miles of the Osage 
hedge were planted. Westward from Paxton and Loda is the celebrated farm of Michael 
Sullivant, comprising 40,000 acres, and upon which are more than two hundred miles of 
Osage hedge, in good growing condition. Mr. Sullivant designs making this the best, as 
it is the most extensive, stock-farm in the West. In the last year the shipments from 
Paxton were as follows : 150,150 bushels corn, 9,950 bushels wheat, 8,700 bushels oats, 
4,100 lbs. wool, 2,527 beef-cattle, 2,006 sheep, and 2,290 hogs. 

General Description of the DistHct embraced in the Plate. — 

This region is almost entirely open prairie ; there is some timber in groves, but it is not 
abundant. West of Bulkley the land is rolling and well adapted for grain ; to the east, 
the land is lower, but of the best quality for stock and tame grass. In the vicinity of 
Loda, to the west, the land is high and good, and also at Paxton, where a large portion 
of the prairie, west, is of good quality for corn, which is the staple crop here. In 1862, 
these three stations shipped of corn alone 191,190 bushels. This district is recom- 
mended to those who wish to engage in the raising of cattle, hogs, or sheep, the soil in 
all parts l)eing excellent for wild or tame grass ; and is also recommended to those of 
comparatively little means who wish to procure a small prairie farm of good land at low 
pi'ice, with an ample range for their stock on unoccupied land. Artesian wells can be 
had at almost every point by boring 50 to 150 feet, and at a cost of from $35.00 to 
$150.00. The water is of uniform temperature, slightly impregnated with iron, and is 
invaluable for stock. The Company had a large quantity of land here originally. 37,000 
acres are yet for sale, at prices ranging from S7.00 to S15.00 per acre, — the larger por- 
tion, over four miles from the road, at $7.00 to SlO.OO. These lands lie in Iroquois, 
Ford, and Vermilion Counties. 



(SEE OTTTIjIXE MAJP, TLATE 28.) 

Pera, is 108^ miles south of Chicago. The present population is 300. The place 
is situated in the midst of a fine prairie, watered by the Vermilion and Sangamon Rivers. 
It contains a schoolhouse, two dry-goods stores, two grocery -stores, drug-store, two boot 
and shoe shops, sorgluim-mill, l)lacksniitli-shop, wagon-shop, and hotel. The shipments 
from this station in 1867 were 69,500 bushels corn, 5,500 bushels oats, 54,864 lbs. seeds, 
13,700 lbs. wool, and 1,600 gallons molasses. 

Mantoill is a pretty village, 114 miles south of Chicago, and 14 north of Champaign. 
The land is rolling prairie, watered by the Sangamon and the Big Vermilion, and is 
superior for stock raising and grazing. Large crops of corn are produced, and fruits of 
all kinds do well. The place has a population of about 800, and is steadily increasing. 
It has two schoolhouses, — one of them for a " graded " school, just completed at a cost of 
$6,000. and capable of accommodating 300 scholars ; one church (Congregational), built 



55 

last year, — while the Methodists, Roman-Catholics, and Baptists purpose to huild the 
coming season. There is a grain warehouse, floiiring-mill, planing-mill, two lumber- 
yards, seven stores, two blacksmith-sliops, two wagon-shops, two shoe-shops, tin-shop, 
harness-shop, hotel, and livery-stable. One hundred new farms were opened in this 
neighborhood last year. The shipments for 1867 were: corn, 77,480 bushels; other 
grain, 10,000 bushels; wool, 15,300 lbs. ; 6,000 bushels of flax-seed, 10,000 lbs. of broom- 
corn, 1,081 liead of cattle, 2,500 hogs, and 2,175 sheep. A large portion of the stociv 
fattened in this neighborhood upon tiie grain raised here is driven to market, so that the 
preceding figures (showing as they do only the shipments by the railroad) give but a faint 
idea of the extent of the stock business. The Company has large quantities of land for 
sale in the vicinity. 

TJtomasboro' , 119 miles south of Chicago, is a new station, stai-tedin May, 1864. 
Since that time, Mr. Thomas, who owns the land immediately about the station, has built 
a good residence, a warehouse for corn, a boarding-house, one permanent hay-barn with 
hay-press, and he is about erecting another for the same use. This is in a good district 
for corn, meadow, and pasture ; and, being only nine miles from Champaign, the county 
town, where land is selling at high figures, the farms about this station must settle up 
rapidly. The great drawback heretofore has been the want of a station and good roads 
to the railway. There is a large grove of timber within three and a half miles of this 
place. The settlers in the vicinity are principally from Pennsylvania and Ohio, with some 
Germans. 

General Description of fJie District embraced in the Plate.— 

A considerable portion of the country in this vicinity, near the railroad, is good grass and 
meadow land. At over three miles from the road, on either side, the land is higher, and a 
large portion of it of the first quality. This region is lately attracting much attention 
for stock-raising, and more lands have been sold since the first of January than at any 
corresponding time previously, and a number of large farms are being started this spring. 
There is some timber to be purchased of individuals on the banks of the Vermilion 
on the east, and the Sangamon on the west. Owing to the large amount of vacant land, 
that which the Company owns has not, as yet, been placed as high as in many localities 
where the country is more thickly settled, but where the land is not of so good quality. 
The Company has 44,000 acres still for sale, a large portion at $8.00 to $10.00 per acre, 
the remainder generally from $11.00 to $14.00, — a few tracts at higher prices. These 
lands are in Champaign County, and are recommended to those who wish to buy good 
prairie land at low prices, in a rapidly improving county. The Company has recently 
undertaken some extensive drainage operations, the benefits of which are so manifest 
that the lands are now meeting with ready sale. A wide and deep ditch, running through 
the low lands west of the Sangamon, has been dug at the expense of the Railway 
Company ; and, witnessing the good results of this, individual proprietors will undoubt- 
edly make similar improvements. 



''(SEE OUTZIKE MAP, PZATE 29.) 

Champaign, 128 miles south of Chicago, is one of the most flourishing towtis 
upon the line of the Illinois Central Railroad. It is a place of great and increasing trade, 
and at this time has 1,100 dwelling-houses and upwards of 5,000 inhabitants. Some of the 
best farms in the State are in this township, and all the country about is highly im- 



5G 



proved. Two miles eastward is Urbana, the seat of justice of Champaign County. 
The two cities arc connected by a street railway. Champaif^n has nine churches, viz., 
Presbyterian (a iiaiKlsome brick edifice, the cost of wliich was $35,000), Methodist, 
Conjrregational, Iloniun-Catholic, two Baptist, two German, and one colored ; two public 
schoolhoiises, large structures, each having several departments, and accommuihiting, in 
the aggregate, twelve hundred children; and a young ladies' seminary, having about 
thirty pupils ; four grain warehouses with steam elevators, two agricultural warehouses, 
Kvo hotels, four newspapers, a national and a private bank, four lumber-yards, two coal- 
yards, two hay-presses, two broom-corn presses, two planing-mills, woollen-mill, fiouring- 
mill, six blacksmith-shops, three carriage-factories, two furniture-factories, two harness- 
shops, four livery-s tables, and upwards of fifty stores for the sale of every description of 
merchandise. The Illinois Industrial College, located midway between Champaiirn and 
Urbnna, was opened for students on the 2d of March, 1868. This institution, cstalilished 
for the benefit of agriculture and the mcclianic arts, was endowed by the General Govern- 
ment with 480,000 acres of the public land, and, by the county of Champaign, private 
individuals, and corporations, with buildings, land, and other property, of the aggregate 
value of $450,000, — exceeding in amount the cash value of the original gift by Congress. 
Each county in the State is entitled to one honorary scholarship, for the benefit of the de- 
scendants of soldiers who served in the army of the United States during the late war. 
Prize scholarships have been endowed by counties, and a lively interest is manifested 
throughout the State in all that relates to the success of the institution. In the last year 
the shipments from this station exceeded 24,000 tons weight, comprising 415,630 bushels 
corn, 111,770 bushels oats, 49,580 bushels wheat, 10,200 bushels rye, 16,400 bushels bar- 
ley, 2,303 bcef-cattlc, 13,216 hogs, 3,531 sheep, and 120,200 lbs. wool. A railroad is in 
progress to Bloomington and Danville, and another to Decatur, making this a great rail- 
road centre, and the market for all the surrounding country. There is a coal vein here. 

Scivof/, anew station, in the midst of a fine agricultural and well-improved country, 
is located 4k miles south from Champaign. Extensive nurseries are located in this 
vicinity. 

Tolono, 137 miles south of Chicago, at the intersection of the Illinois Central and 
the Gicat Western Railroads, has a population of 1,000. Two sorghum-mills were in use 
during the past season ; and a flouring-mill, erected in 1864, has just l)een put in operation. 
There arc two churches in the place, — Roman-Catholic and Presbyterian; two school- 
houses, the average attendance at the schools being 375 ; three grain warehouses, all of 
which arc worked i)y steam ; two hotels and six stores. Considerable land in the imme- 
diate vicinity was sold during the last summer and- fall, generally to actual settlers from 
Ohio and Indiana; and a large increase is anticipated in the breadth of land cultivated 
the coming year. A number of dwelling-houses and stores are now in course of building. 
The place has somewhat improved within the last year, and, being situated in the midst 
of a fine fiirming district, and at the crossing of the two railroads, gives promise of rapid 
advancement. The land lying west has' latterly attracted much attention for the raising 
of cattle, hogs, sheep, &c., to which it is well adapted. Large shipments are made from 
this station: in the last year, by the Illinois Central Railroad, 78,100 bushels wheat, 
73,210 bushels corn, 24,350 bushels oats, 10,800 bushels barley, 2,535 bbls. flour, 54,800 
lbs. wool, 326,400 lbs. hides, 410 horses and mules, 6,310 beef cattle, 8,195 sheep, and 
36,400 hogs. As regards stock shipments, Tolono takes the lead of all the stations upon 
this road; but a considerable portion of the live stock sent to Chicago is drawn from the 
Great Western Railroad, which crosses the Illinois Central at this point. 

Pesoturrif 14 miles south of Champaign. The country about here is in the highest 
degree fertile and well-wooded, and at least twenty new farms were brought under culti- 



57 

vation last year. A considerable number of fruit-trees wore planted. A large amount of 
stock is raised in this neighborhood. The farmers are mainly from Ohio, Indiana, and 
Western Illinois. The wool-clip last year amounted to 6,000 lbs. At the station there are 
three stores, Masonic and Good Templars Halls, blacksmith-shop, hotel, and drug-store. 
The school numbers about 150 scholars. There are two religious denominations, 
Methodist and Roman-Catholic ; and a Union church in the township. Population, 
400. The shipments by railroad last year included 19,800 bushels grain, 4,000 lbs. wool, 
and 6.50 hogs. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate. — 

About Champaign, the land is very high and rolling. From five to ten miles west of here, 
the Company has still a few thousand acres for sale, at from $8.00 to $11.00 per acre, 
according to quality and location. West of Savoy, and north of Sadorus, on the Great 
Western Railroad, the Company has for sale a lai-ge body of land at $8.00 to $12.00 and 
upwards per acre. Some portion of this land is flat; but the soil is excellent, and of the 
best description for a stock-farm, and for pasturage and hay. West of Pesotum, the land 
is excellent but level. Nearer the railroad, and to the east, the land is generally higher, 
and good for corn, wheat, oats, &c. The prices are higher, ranging from $10.00 to $13.00, 
at a distance from the railroad, and from $13.00 to $16.00 and upwards for lands convenient 
to the stations. There is quite an amount of timber on the banks of the three or four con- 
siderable streams that water this district. The lands now for sale by the Company are 
entirely prairie, of which it has about 26,000 acres in this region. These lands are in 
Champaign and Piatt Counties, 



(SEE OUTJOIKE MAP, JPZATE 30.) 

Tuscola J 150 miles south from Chicago, is the county seat of Douglas County. It 
was laid out in 1857, when the first house was built. At the present time, it contains four 
hundred and fifty dwelling-houses and a population of two thousand souls. There are 
in this place four churches (Methodist, Presbyterian, Campbellite, and Baptist) ; a large 
brick schoolhouse, where as many as four hundred children are taught the English branch- 
es, and the materials are already upon the ground for another schoolhouse, larger than the 
old one ; four hotels, in arrangement and managenient second to none in Central Illinois ; 
three elevators worked by steam, with the prospect that another will be erected this season ; 
a flouring-mill with three run of burs ; a newspaper printing-office ; eight dry-goods stores, 
doing a large retail trade ; fourteen grocery-stores ; four drug-stores ; one boot and shoe 
store ; two hardware-stores ; three clothing-stores ; two agricultural-implement stores ; 
two book-stores ; two stove and tin stores; two furniture-stores; one bank ; two lumber- 
yards; and sixteen mechanic-shops. A nursery and fruit-farm adjoining the town is 
under a fair state of cultivation. The farmers are becoming wide awake to the im. 
portance of fruit-culture, and thousands of trees are planted annually. They are also 
taking great interest in the subject of drainage, and several miles of drains were cut last 
summer and autumn. A good deal of attention is given to the town roads. The court- 
house, a brick and stone structure, is a very handsome building, hardly equalled by any 
edifice of the kind in this part of the State. Tlie surrounding country is wonderfully fer- 
tile, and is rapidly filling up with an industrious, energetic, and thrifty population. The 
surplus products sent away to market last year were these : 194,650 bushels corn, 16,800 
bushels oats, 7,100 bushels wheat and rye, 455 barrels flour, 895 bushels potatoes, 563 beef 
cattle, 950 sheep, and 6,210 hogs. 



58 

OTcaw (P. 0., Areola), 158 miles south of Chicago, was organized in 1855, and con- 
tains, as per last census, 1,G75 iniiabitants. In an agricultural district unsurpassed in 
richness of soil, and with superior facilities for transportation, the place shows signs of 
present prosperity and growing im])ortance. Fifty dwelling-houses have been erected 
during the past year. There are six churches in the town, — Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, 
Presbyterian, Congregational, and Christian, — and two large schoolhouses, where instruc- 
tion is given to 300 pupils. The business of the place is considerable. There are three 
hotels, two flouring-mills, one woollen-factory, three grain warehouses and elevators, four 
boot and shoe stores, seventeen grocery-stores, seven dry-goods stores, two furniture- 
stores, two drug-stores, two harness-shops, two butcher-shops, three blacksmith-shops, two 
agricultural warehouses, two coal and two lumber yards. The number of new farms 
opened and to be i)ut under cultivation this spring is, by careful count, seventy. The 
shipments last year were as follows : 305,850 bushels corn, 28,930 bushels wheat, 23,000 
bushels oats, 7,500 bushels wheat and barley, 1,635 bushels potatoes, 2,782 hogs, 445 beeC- 
cattle, 450 sheep, and 1,900 pounds wool. 

General Descrijition of the District einhraced in the Flate. - 

At an early day this region attracted the attention of settlers, from the richness and great 
productiveness of tlie soil ; and the larger portion of the Company's lands near the rail- 
road were long since sold. There is a great abundance of timber on the Kaskaskia and 
Embarras Kivers, and the surrounding country is thickly settled with a prosperous and well- 
to-do population ; the improvements in the way of buildings, fences, &c., are of a very 
substantial character. Large numbers of sheep are grown in this region, and much cap- 
ital is invested in cattle, hogs, &c. There is no better district in the State for wheat, corn, 
oats, tame grasses, &c. There are thousands of acres in the immediate vicinity of the rail- 
road laid down in blue-grass and timothy. The Imy-crop here is a very large and very 
])rofitable one. Improved farms have been sold during the past year at as high prices as 
in any part of the State. The lands which the Company has still for sale embrace about 
13,000 acres, and consist generally of the flatter tracts, or those from ten to fifteen miles 
from the stations, and are recommended more particularly for stock and grass. These are 
offered at prices ranging from $3.00 to $15.00, and a few tracts at still higher prices. 
The larger portion, over ten miles from the stations, is offered at $3.00 to $11.00. 
The Company have two entire sections, once improved, and now in blue-grass and timothy, 
to sell on reasonable terms. These lands are in Douglas and Moultrie Counties. 



(SEE OUTLINE SZJlP, PLATE 31. J 

Milton (P. O., Milton Station^, 1G4 miles south from Chicago, has 310 inhabitants 
by a recent enumeration. Twenty dwelling-houses were erected during the last season. 
There are at the station nine stores, four warehouses, and one hotel. The schoolhouse 
accommodates about 150 pupils. The surrounding countr}- cannot be excelled in the pro- 
duction of corn, wheat, oats, barley, vegetables, grass, &c. Almost all of the Company's 
lands in this vicinity have been sold, and improved liy the purchasers. The shipments 
from this station last year were 163,500 bushels corn, 8,700 bushels oats, 1,091 bbls. flour, 
and 1,121 hogs. 

Mattoon, situated at the crossing of the Illinois Central and the Tcrre Haute, Alton, 
and St. IjOuIs Railroads, 173 miles south of Chicago, and 130 miles east of St. Louis, is 



59 

one of the most prosperoiis towns in this part of the State. At the present time, it has a 
population of 4,500, and is growing rapidly. Many new dwelling-houses were built 
during- the last year, and also several brick business-blocks. The country is well settled 
up, and the county (Coles) is very fertile, and produces immense crops of grain particularly 
Indian corn. There are seven churches in the town, — three Presbyterian, one Methodist, 
one Baptist, one Christian, and one Roman Catholic. The schools are good and well 
attended. Four large public schoolhouses are completed. One of the finest elevators in 
the State, outside of Chicago, was erected here last year. The grain-business is very large, 
and employs four steam elevators. There are four hotels in the place, and another will 
be erected this season, designed to be the best in this part of the State ; a National Bank, 
with a capital of $100,000; a printing-office; three newspapers; thirty stores of all kinds, 
— dry-goods, groceries, hardware, drugs, &c., — and, counting flouring, woollen, and plan- 
ing mills, and blacksmith-shops, twenty-one manufacturing establishments. The sur- 
rounding country is all settled, and lands command very high prices. A large business is 
done in the raising and packing of cattle and hogs. Recently much attention is given to 
sheep, which, it is claimed, thrive better here than in any other portion of the country. The 
winters are so much shorter and milder than in the Eastern States, that the cattle and 
sheep come out stronger in the spring, and the cost of wintering is much less. This coun- 
try has the advantage of four markets, — Chicago, Cairo. Cincinnati, and St. Louis. Dur- 
ing the last year the shipments from this station (including transshipment from the junc- 
tion road) by the Illinois Central Railroad were as follows : 480,200 bushels corn, 37,300 
bushels wheat, 54,400 bushels oats, 17,833 bbls. flour, 3,526 bbls. lard, 500 bbls. pork, 
184,000 lbs. wool, 570 tons hides, 1,537 horses and mules, 1,415 beeves, 3,075 sheep, 6,399 
hogs, 2,410,000 lbs. tobacco, and 145,700 lbs. cotton. 

^ttlCl, 179 miles from Chicago, is situated in the midst of fine rolling prairie, well 
adapted for fruit and sheep raising. There was a large increase last year in the acreage 
of cultivated land, and an immense number of fruit-trees were planted. At Alma village 
there is one house of worship, used alternately by the church-goers of the Methodist, 
Missionary Baptist, Cumberland Presbyterian, and Christian denominations, and by the 
lodge of Freemasons ; one schoolhouse has been built, and the site has been selected for 
another, which will be commenced at an early day ; two stores which do a general trade ; 
two grain-warehouses, hotel, drug-store, grocery, three blacksmith-shops, two wagon- 
shops, and two shoe-shops. The shipments of grain from this station last year amounted 
to 24,000 bushels. 

General Description of the District embraced in the Plate. — 

This is one of the best farming districts in Illinois ; the land is high and rolling, and the 
soil very deep, black, and rich. There is an abundance of timber, and the country is 
well watered. Most of the Company's lands have been sold ; a few tracts still remain for 
sale, at prices varying widely, according to quality and location. There are about 3,000 
acres of partially timbered lands on the Embarras and Kaskaskia Rivers for sale, at from 
$9.00 to $11.00 per acre. These lands are in Coles County. 



(SEE OUTLINE MAP, PIRATE 82.) 

Neoga, midway between Chicago and Cairo, has 85 houses and 500 inhabitants. 
There are two churches (New School Presbyterian and Methodist) in the village, and three 



60 



others within a distance of four miles, to wit, Methodist, Christian, and Friends. A 
graded school has been established, — number of pupils enrolled, 150; During the last 
year, ten new farms were opened. The town contains nine stores, three blacksmith- 
shops, two wagon-shops, two fiouring-mills, two drug-stores, two hotels, two millinery- 
shops, two harness-shops, one furniture-store, and one hay-press. Amount of wool 
clipped last year, 4,000 lbs. ; fruit-trees planted, 400. The shipments of produce from 
this station last }ear were 94,980 bushels corn, 3,900 bushels wheat, 3,G00 busiiels oats, 
and 3,051 hogs. 

Siffel (P. 0., Hooker) is 191 miles south from Chicago. The place is only four years 
old, vet its population already exceeds 400. It contains ninety dwelling-houses, two 
churches (Roman Catholic and Lutheran), a sehoolhouse, five dry-goods and grocery 
stores, two hotels, steam flouring-mill, iicll-foundery, two wagon-shops, three blacksmith- 
shops, and two boot and shoe stores. The population of Sigel, as well as that of the 
surrounding country, is principally German. The land in the neighborhood is high, 
rolling prairie, well watered, with timber in abundance, and is well adapted to all kinds 
of grain and fruit, as well as to stock-raising. Fifteen new farms were opened last year.' 
26,800 bushels corn, 3,400 bushels wheat, 2,400 bushels oats, 1,269 live hogs, 95,300 lbs. 
dressed pork, 139 beef-cattle, and 175 sheep were sent to market from this station last year. 

EfflnffTlflin, the county seat of Effingham County, is 199 miles from Chicago, and 
100 miles from St. Louis. The contemplated Atlantic and Mississippi Railroad, being a 
direct and nearly air-line road from St. Louis to Terre Haute, is located through this 
place, and has several miles of its track already completed. The old National Road, from 
Cumberland, Md., to St. Louis, also passes here, and makes this town the centre of trade 
for quite an extensive country. The estimated population of Effingham is 2,200. The city 
contains three steam flouring-mills, two steam saw-mills, two lumber-yards, three harness- 
shops, four boot and shoe shops, one cabinet-maker's shop, four blacksmith-shops, two 
wagon-shops, ten dry-goods stores, six groceries, four drug-stores, three furniture-stores, 
three hardware and two clothing stores, five warehouses, a steam woollen-factory in full 
operation, a marble-yard, and two printing-offices, from which are issued " The Register," 
a Republican paper, and " The Gazette," a Democratic paper. There were erected du- 
ring the last year as many as twenty-five substantial buildings, nearly all of brick. Build- 
ing materials are abundant. The bricks made here are of an excellent quality ; stone is 
found within half a mile of the town ; and oak as well as walnut timber is plenty. There 
are three brick churches, — Methodist, Baptist, and Roman Catholic; and the Christian 
denomination has also one in progress. Four good hotels are located near the railway 
depot. Two schoolhouses of brick, and one of wood, have been completed within a few 
years. This section is also noted for its fruit, and particularly for peaches, pears, and 
grapes. AVithin three-fourths of a mile of the town there are fifty acres of bearing fruit- 
trees, — mostly peach. The price of property is advancing, and immigration lo the city 
and the country around is steadily increasing. During the last season thirty new farms 
were opened near Effingham. In the last year the shipments from this station were as 
follows: 51,750 bushels corn, 8,650 bushels wheat, 3,700 bushels oats, 1,013 bbls. pork, 
1,291 bbls. lard, 3,350 hogs, 330 beef-cattle, and 225 sheep. 

General Description of fJie District embraced in the Plate. — 

In going south from Chicago, the timl)er is here first found in abundance. Through this 
district the prairies are small, and in about equal quantity with the timber, which consists 
of all the varieties of hard wood. The soil here is of a lighter shade than farther north, 
and is considered the best for winter wheat. Wheat, oats, rye, corn, sweet-potatoes, to- 



61 

bacco, stock, wool, and hogs are all raised witli profit. There is a large German popula- 
tion in this district, who are an intelligent, enterprising, and thrifty class, and who, having 
for the most part settled here within the last three years, have already substantial im- 
provements and good farms. Many Eastern people have also settled here. The Com- 
pany has for sale about 17,000 acres, at from $7.00 to $13.00 and $15.00 per acre, — a 
large portion at the lower figures. These lands are in Shelby, Cumberland, and Effing- 
ham Counties. 



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